TANYA WHITEBITS x MERCI MAMAN BOUTIQUE
- Shoned
- Jul 15, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 24, 2020
I’ve always admired the story of Jewellery makers Merci Maman. It's a fairy tale in the world of business, and I love how it started as a side hustle from their kitchen table - just like all the businesses I have started too. When The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton was spotted wearing one of their necklaces, the company went viral!
It's a pleasure to share their story and I’m thrilled to say I was recently invited as a guest on their podcast, Merci Mamam Studio Stories. We spoke about all things Tanya Whitebits, juggling parenthood to teenage twins and running multiple businesses.
Arnaud de Montille and his wife Beatrice started making jewellery at home. Born in France, they moved to London in 2003. They were struggling to manage the work-life balance as Arnaud was in banking, and Beatrice had just had their second child. She wanted to go part-time in her office job, but the company refused. She was considering a career change, so decided to start making her own necklaces. She ordered a gold charm and chain from the internet as well as a hand held ‘graver’ (a sharp, pointed steel on a metal handle). By the end of the day she’d engraved the necklace with the names of their children and was proudly wearing it.
Initially, it was a bit of a hobby. She sat at the kitchen table and began engraving pieces to sell at Christmas fairs and local events. Word of mouth spread in the village and soon she was making jewellery for friends, family and anyone who needed something special to mark an occasion. They decided to set up a website for her creations rather than open a shop and, after a few weeks, her orders slowly grew.
She’d started buying the charms and chains and engraving them herself. Arnaud used to help out in evenings and at the weekends and knew they were on to a good thing. As orders grew, they hired a few people to help and, in 2013, he left his job to join the company.
He too saw the benefits of this kind of work/life balance. By then, they had four kids and he was enjoying taking them to school and being home for supper, which was a whole new world for him. He was determined for Merci Maman to be a success.
Their unique selling point became the personalisation angle. You could order absolutely anything. Children’s names, love notes, GPS coordinates of where people met or live, you name it, they could do it. They were published in a few magazines and Pippa Middleton ended up buying something from them for a friend. She was so pleased with it, she sent them a thank you letter and went on to buy a few more pieces for presents. They were thrilled, and it got them thinking of their dream customers.
When Kate Middleton was pregnant with her first child in 2014 they both said, ‘Wow, imagine if she had a necklace with the name of the future prince or princess on it?’. She is an icon across the whole world and an inspiration to so many women. So, when George was born, they made her a necklace with his name on and a little ‘W’ charm on it also for William. They sent it to Pippa so she could gift it to her sister in their behalf.
The next thing they saw a picture of Kate wearing it all over the newspapers. There was a big article about Kate’s jewellery, which went viral - and there was their necklace. The effect was instant. They had 25,000 hits on the website in three days – equivalent to all of the traffic they would normally get in December, their busiest month. They had to focus on production, getting stock in and had to recruit more staff to cope. They then expanded to three offices – in London, Paris and Berlin – to make sure they could reach everyone.
Business went insane and they even gained a few more royal customers. Mike Tindall bought a few pieces for his wife, the Queen’s granddaughter Zara. After 2014, they had such a huge burst internationally that they applied for The Queens Award, which is awarded to a few select UK businesses every year. They won for their contribution to exports and were invited to Buckingham Palace. After mingling with the guests someone asked them to head to a private room. And there sat Queen Elizabeth II, who wanted to have a private chat with them. She asked them all sorts of questions. When they moved to England, how the business started. She was interested in all the ins and outs!
The necklace Kate has is called the Duchess and it’s the same price it always was, £129. The company also practise work-life balance ethos. Everyone who works for them can create their own schedule to make sure they have enough family time.
So for me, to have the opportunity to collaborate with this wonderful brand was a dream come true. Their story is inspirational and every brand’s dream come true. I was gifted a beautiful necklace from their signature collection, I also bought one of their jewellery cases for future purchases as I have my eye on one of their rings. I mix and match my jewellery and wear both silver and gold pieces.
For my Merci Mamam necklace I chose a plain gold chain. They come in three lengths, and I went for the middle option which was 60cm. You can choose your own personal engraving on both sides of the disk, and I had my family’s names inside the outer circle rim of the disk and a welsh quote on the other translating to “It’s the little things” as in, it’s the little things that count. This is something my family have always said and appreciated.
I feel honoured to have been part of the Merci Mama Studio Stories podcast and if you’d like to tune in, you'll find my episode here.
You can view or purchase Merci Maman products via their website:
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