AR CHAINZ: Unique, Sustainable Style

Elon’ entrepreneur, Ari Brochin strikes again, this time with a new creative outlet and best-friend-turned-partner, Rosie Mazzeo. These two artists have started their own jewelry line, AR Chainz. They scout out the best vintage finds at random shops in any city or town they find themselves in, then with some magic and pliers, work them together to create a sustainable, affordable, and fashion-forward piece of jewelry that you can’t find anywhere else. After working with Ari and Rosie to shoot their most recent line, we were inspired. They just dropped their second launch of jewelry, which includes necklaces, earrings, and body chains to spice up any outfit. We decided to sit down with these two creators and gain some insight into their new brand. 

How did you decide to start this business, what inspired you?

We decided to start this business when we were playing around, making jewelry with Ari’s mom in Vermont this winter. We made pieces for ourselves with what we had, and decided to share with others by selling some of them on etsy! We had so much fun that we continued to develop our business by going to antique and vintage shops to find more chains and parts to make new jewelry.

Is it hard to balance friendship and working together? How do you do it?

We learned to find a balance in our friendship and working together by scheduling times into our days or weeks that we want to work on our business. This makes it a set time where we are strictly business and can focus. I believe working on this together has been a great experience for the both of us! We are able to split up the responsibilities based on our different strengths and weaknesses.

Can you tell us a bit about how you create pieces?

We take old, antique and vintage jewelry pieces apart and utilize different pieces to create new pieces of art! We use all different kinds of antique and vintage chains and charms to create new pieces from old pieces.

What types of shops do you get pieces from? What makes something stand out to you?

We get our pieces solely from antique or thrift stores. We typically like to find things that are long chains so that we can take them apart to make multiple chains out of them. We like to find pieces we can make into statement pieces or original body chains. 

Is there any piece of jewelry you’ve made that’s been your favorite?

My favorite is one that just sold, the “Locked Outta Heaven Necklace.” I became very attached to this piece when creating it and I wanted to keep it so badly, but decided to upload it to etsy. It sold the next day, which was hard but exciting! If I kept everything I loved, our business wouldn’t grow. -Rosie

Do you make jewelry for yourselves often?

When we make jewelry, sometimes we love what we make so much that it is hard to give it up! So yes, we do make jewelry for ourselves even if it isn't intended. We also typically wear new pieces when we hang out with others to expose the jewelry in person to our friends, peers, and customers. This way people can see how we style the jewelry and what it looks like when paired with a fun outfit.

Is there anything else you want to share?

We would love to grow our company in all ways we can. We have instagram, Tik Tok, and etsy pages to gain followers and supporters. We appreciate everyone that supports us, we couldn’t do it without all of you guys! Please keep up the support!