The House of Cach stands in stark contrast to companies like Arden, Accent and Bernardo. More of an artists’ collective than a jewelry company, House of Cach is the brainchild of founder Alexa Cach and several other designers. Instead of creating samples that will be manufactured overseas by the tens of thousands and sold at giant retail chains, they’re handcrafting one-of-a-kind pieces to be sold at small boutiques or direct to customers. And they definitely consider themselves artists. “When we design, we seek to break boundaries and forge new ground,” says Cach. “We believe that we are not only creating jewelry and accessories, but wearable art.”
Though its artistic aspirations are writ large, House of Cach’s business is decidedly small. Smithfied’s Flaunt Boutique is the company’s biggest account, and most of its sales are in Rhode Island or Massachusetts – though HoC has established a bit of a following in New York and out on the West Coast. The designers also offer custom work and often exhibit at direct-to-consumer shows. Suffice to say, retail numbers are not priority number one at House of Cach. “We chose to do jewelry and accessories for a living because we don’t feel that our lives are complete if we cannot create,” the founder declares.
Just as with its designs, House of Cach’s method of marketing and growing the brand is collaborative and artistic. They team up on runway shows, accessorizing the lines presented by designers like Boston’s Candice Wu and Rhode Island’s Nick Pini. “While we love doing runway, we specialize in multi-artist projects that blur the line between various art forms,” notes Cach. “These projects usually involve fashion, performance art, installations, audience participation and more.”
For example, Cach points to an event last December called “On the 9th Day GOD accepted all...” done in collaboration with the Dark Lady, a downtown gay bar, and Headmaster, the self-proclaimed “bi-annual art magazine for man-lovers.” The event explored the complex relationships between organized religion, gender, sexuality, equality and acceptance through collaborative art projects. For its part, Cach says, “HoC created numerous, and at times quite provocative, large-scale accessories for each shown project and the audience was able to buy scaled-down pieces for personal use.”
HoC is in line with entrepreneurial nature of Providence’s artist community, where people who work in graphic design for large companies sell their personal work on Etsy by night. Stores like Craftland make their business on providing a retail outlet for local artisans, and small jewelry and accessory designers peddle their wares direct to consumers at places like the Providence Open Market and StyleWeek Northeast’s Accessory Showcase. It’s a great place for an artist with a little hustle. “The city is full of artists driven by community and challenging each other to push art to its limits,” enthuses Cach. “It’s a very supportive environment.”
Of course, that doesn’t mean that HoC isn’t dealing with the same realities as the rest of the jewelry industry. Cach notes that while manufacturing her pieces here in the US keeps her company flexible and nimble, “it is also our biggest obstacle – and Rhode Island’s high taxes do not help.”
Her assessment of the industry’s domestic prospects is mixed, but skews towards optimism. “A lot of design capabilities are here but manufacturing has moved overseas,” she notes. “It becomes very tricky at a certain point to produce the way it has been done historically in Rhode Island. Therefore the industry has changed dramatically. However, quality, handmade and artisan styles, smaller design companies and those willing to create through those challenges are carrying the torch.”
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