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COMMITTED TO TRULY ETHICAL JEWELRY

Fail Studios

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Designer

Christine Fail

Christine Fail is the designer behind Fail Jewelry. With a BFA in studio art, Christine’s background is firmly rooted in art and design. Her introduction into the world of fine jewelry came from working for two of Austin’s top fine jewelers, Anthony Nak and Shaesby, where she learned the trade and business of jewelry. Christine was laid off in 2009, and it was the best thing that ever happened to her.

Christine started with a tiny retail store in South Austin and a small collection of handmade jewelry that has since grown to include a storefront in East Austin, a production studio and an ever-growing list of worldwide wholesale partners. As a lifelong learner, Christine loves being a student and continues to bring new techniques, ideas and principles into her business. For her, the creativity of problem solving in business can be just as rewarding as sitting down to carve a wax or sketch new designs.

A resident of Austin for 20+ years, Christine has called East Austin home for 12 years and has rooted her studio and store in this community. When not in the studio you can find Christine working on a never-ending remodel of her East Austin home, building furniture in her father’s garage, enjoying a Magnum and bowl of queso at the Texas Chili Parlor or snuggling up with her husband Andrew and barn cat Banjo.

Aesthetic

A minimalist at heart, Christine is focused on having pieces that beautifully marry form and function in opposition to excess blind consumerism. Her collections are created harnessing the spirit of Austin with pieces that transition effortlessly from a t-shirt and jeans to the little black dress.  Every item is made to be lived in, like your favorite pair of jeans.  Fail jewelry may not always be your statement piece, but it will be your favorite piece. 

Ethos


From the beginning, Christine’s mission was simple: feature handmade jewelry and objects made from quality materials at accessible price points. That remains the core mission of Fail Jewelry to this day. Each and every piece is brought to life with a human touch—simply put, it has soul. When you purchase a piece of Fail Jewelry, you are preserving the artistry of handmade goods that Christine and her peers have worked tirelessly to cultivate over the years.

With the opening of her first retail shop in South Austin, Christine inadvertently joined in on a movement and found her home in the Austin maker community.  This group of designers, artists and like-minded business owners now stretches across the US. This network of lifelong friends supports each other, collaborate with each other and value community over competition principles that Fail continues to live by.

Christine incorporates these values into her all-female studio. She is committed to employee growth and development, work-life balance and increased quality of life for her team, which she fosters through employer sponsored health insurance, paid time off and company profit share.  Ethics and sustainability don’t stop with employees but are tenants that run through her
studio operations, production and design.

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Process

Christine conceptualizes and creates every collection in her East Austin studio and storefront with a small team. As an admirer of process-based design, it is often the journey that informs the pieces and collections.

As a result of her background in metalsmithing, a hammer touches all of the pieces in the Classic Fail line. Each piece starts out as wire or sheet and the form is created by cutting and hammering making each piece truly unique. In this line Christine also relies solely on cold-connections and refrains from using cast pieces or solder. This limitation is used as a design tool to push forward the design process, encouraging more innovation and creativity with limited techniques and materials, setting fail apart from other designers.

In Epic, her line of fine jewelry, Christine has pushed herself to learn new techniques, utilize different materials and grow as a designer and jeweler while staying true to her aesthetics of timeless, elegant, and minimal design. The result is a collection of everyday essentials made up of heirloom-quality forged hoops, hooks and studs built on Christine’s background in metalsmithing.  These classics pieces are coupled with dimensional and understated pieces, including alternative wedding and ceremony rings for the modern couple, that incorporate the artistry typically found on one-of-a-kind art jewelry, along with one of a kind gemstones and settings.

At her core Christine, is a lifelong learner and is constantly looking to challenge herself and grow as a business owner and designer. With her core values as a guide, Christine will continue to expand her offerings and is excited to see where the future leads.