Uri worked in the events sector before the outbreak of the pandemic. Shortly after, his company put him on an ERTE (temporary redundancy scheme) and, in the end, they ended up firing him. With 10,000 euros, saved from his severance pay, his life savings, and a bank loan, he founded his own company: Kapio, a handmade jewelry brand made in Barcelona.
Kapio was born on March 1st of this year with a promise: to make jewelry that lasts a lifetime. For Capell, "luxury is being able to say: this will always accompany me."
The entrepreneur wants to be an alternative to big brands and make a "quality product for a standard pocket." The average price of his portfolio is 130 euros, and he only works with silver and gold as a base. Silver pieces range from 55 to 130 euros and gold pieces from 125 to 800 euros. "Prices are high because the materials are good," says Capell, adding: "but the retail margin is far from what is on the market."
Kapio also bets on slow fashion as a differentiating feature. They only produce handmade and by order. "I didn't want to feed the monster even more," he confesses. He works on demand using just enough resources to make each piece.
Clients can either order a product from his collection (with customization option), or sit down with Oriol, tell him what they want, and he will make their idea a reality. Passionate about art and sculpture, he boasts of designing the pieces himself. "As a child, some played soccer, I drew."
Furthermore, he is proud to have a "100% local" project. He has always been clear that Kapio had to be a Barcelona jewelry brand. With the pandemic, "the world has stopped and you realize that you only have what is here," he reflects. That's why, he assures, his is indeed local commerce.
The jewelry is produced artisanally and by order, using just enough resources to make each pieceProduction is carried out in two artisan workshops in the Gràcia neighborhood (Barcelona) and suppliers are in the city center.The entire circuit through which the pieces pass is from Barcelona, except thepackagingwhich is from Zaragoza. The logistics center, he says, is his room. "It's a one-man orchestra," he laughs. For now, he doesn't plan to incorporate anyone else into the team.
With 5 months of life, Capell says it's going "quite well, even though it's hard." The reviews he receives are good. "The collection has been quite popular and this was my biggest concern. If it wasn't liked, I had a fundamental problem, but that hasn't been the case," he explains to The New Barcelona Post.
His clients range from women in their 30s who "have their first salaries, which allow them to treat themselves," to women in their 50s or 60s, who are already "established" and "can afford it." Capell is happy to have reached the "profile of an independent woman who doesn't need anyone to give her anything," precisely the one he was looking for and the one that inspired him to create the designs.
Kapio is 100% local: production is carried out by two artisan workshops in Gràcia and suppliers are in the city centerOriol grew up surrounded by women. He says he was raised by his grandmother, his mother, his five aunts, and his older sister. "I am lucky to be surrounded by strong, empowered, and hardworking women who are an inspirationto carry out projects like this," he states.
His long-term goal is to update old pieces. In fact, this is why Kapio was born. Thus, the project began to take shape long before Uri was fired from his job. He had been thinking about it for two years.
He starts thinking about it when his grandmother passes away and the family divides her jewelry. "There were many that were not useful for everyday life," he comments. It was then that he began to look for firms that modernize old pieces, and he realized that "practically no one offers a reliable service like this. One thing is to order a ring, another is to bring a ring from your mother or grandmother to have it fixed."
Kapio was created to offer this service, but with the financial level Uri found himself in after the Covid crisis, he could not open a workshop. "I did a market study and found that with a physical store it is easier for people to entrust these things to you," he explains. So he took a step back and decided to set up, first, an online store that would allow him to gain the trust of customers and get more funding to, later, have enough strength to open the longed-for workshop.
The projected turnover for this 2021 is 5,000 euros. In the second year of operation, he expects to earn 15,000 euros and in the third, when he estimates he will reach the break-even point, 30,000 euros. This 2021 the goal is to develop the collection and the necessary infrastructure to carry out the project and, with an eye on 2022, to promote it.
In the future, he would like to open a physical store, because he believes it is what would "boost the brand the most." What Oriol wants is to "invite the public to his home" and be able to achieve his long-term goal: "update pieces and continue their legacy." And he knows that the way to do it is face to face.
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