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 Aus-tin’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 tech-niques, 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, dog Dunkin and barn cat Banjo.
Aesthetic
Fail’s aesthetic embodies the spirit of Austin, transitioning 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 gifts 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 art-istry 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 support 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 things like health insurance, paid time off and company profit share.
Process
Christine conceptualizes and creates every collection in her East Austin studio and storefront with her talented production team to create three distinct lines. 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. Because each piece starts out as wire or sheet, and the form is created by cutting and hammering, each piece is 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 her EPIC line of fine jewelry, Christine has pushed herself to learn new techniques, utilize different materials and grow as a designer and jeweler. This collection is where Christine introduced cast pieces and soldering to expand the possibilities within her aesthetic.
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.