Women Behind the Brand

What do you do when you can't find what you're looking for? Then you make it yourself. Enter the ethically produced and PostCool jewelry brand MAQÉ, which creates bracelets and rings that are so different from anything you've ever seen that they are high on the wish list of the movers and shakers in the fashion world. If they haven't already slipped them on their wrists and fingers.

Okay, tell, tell, tell. First, let's tackle the concept of ‘PostCool’. What should I understand by that?

Yes, we understand that. We use PostCool to indicate that our pieces are not a trend: it's about making individual sustainable choices. PostCool actually honors ‘the genuine’ and ‘the unpretentious’: those who are not led by commerce, succumb to ‘fast fashion’ or status symbols.

I understand that you were looking for jewelry that not everyone had. A certain ‘famous’ piece of jewelry like the Love Bracelet from Cartier immediately indicates which ‘tribe’ you belong to. You consciously didn't want that. Why not?

We don't believe that status should be derived from recognizable symbols. We see the understated aspect as an inner value that should be more present in these times. Your choice for a purchase should be because it does something for you, it touches you in some way. So that's very personal.

You knew each other from Ibiza where you both lived, but I understood that your friendship is actually more atypical than the many friendships we know from the stories. 

We only knew each other from stories when we decided to embark on this adventure. Along the way, we actually got to know each other. A perfect match on many levels: we complement each other perfectly. We can be honest, open, and objective without hard feelings, but our humor is something that truly connects us. We can really laugh hard together and our business trips are legendary.

Finding each other is one thing, but running a business together is something completely different. When did you look at each other and think: we're just going to do it?

That was actually already during our first ‘coffee date’. Kim: ‘After my cookbook ‘Eivissa Food’ I wanted to create something new. I mentioned that I had different ideas and wanted to execute them with someone. It was already settled, day one within thirty minutes. The rest is history…’

Karjan: ‘After my career on the options exchange in Amsterdam and London, I had lifestyle stores in southern Spain for a while, which was fun, but I knew one thing for sure: never again do business alone, because that's boring and heavy. I also immediately felt that Kim was the perfect partner.’

Are you a typical where-one-leaves-off-the-other-begins duo? What are your complementary talents?

Karjan is very analytical and likes to dig into things, loves numbers, researches everything, and gets extremely annoyed when something doesn't work or goes well, while Kim is more the connector and does everything based on feeling. But the nice thing is that we are completely on the same page taste-wise, there’s never really a need to argue about that.

Where there's chopping, splinters fall. We all know a little quarrel or disagreement in the workplace. How do you clean that up?

To be honest, that rarely happens, but if something rubs us the wrong way, we just express it. Often we have a disagreement about how to approach something, but we give each other a lot of space in that. So it goes more or less organically: sometimes Kar gets her way and sometimes Kim. The wonderful thing is that we really grant each other the ‘victory’ and there's never any fuss about it afterwards.

About MAQÉ, who is it for?

MAQÉ is for the woman and man who love beautiful things but are also aware of their surroundings. All our stones are ethically sourced and our gold is recycled. Moreover, our jewelry doesn't stand out immediately: only people with an eye for detail see how incredibly beautiful this is made. Our stone cutters and goldsmiths are fantastic craftsmen and deliver truly high-end work. So it’s really a personal piece of jewelry that you wear for yourself.

And the name is undoubtedly not chosen randomly?

We were looking for a nice name for a long time, but all the abbreviations led to forced sounds. MAQÉ has something elusive, not tied to place or sex, it sounds French, but also Japanese. Cool, short, and powerful, that's what we like.

Sustainability was incredibly important to you, both in the creation of the jewelry and in its quality. You should be able to kite surf calmly at wind force six without worrying about losing it. What checklist needs to be ticked off before a piece of jewelry from you is ‘finished’?

We wanted to create something you can wear anytime and anywhere, so kite surfing: yes! Very old school, but suppose you're going on a trip, then you can wear our bracelets casually. We're both not the types who regularly change our jewelry or take it off before going to sleep, way too complicated. But that does mean it has to look just as beautiful with jeans as with an evening dress. And that has worked out very well.

Who is your ideal MAQÉ person?

Wow, that's difficult! You of course, luckily you already have one on. We are of course incredibly happy with every sale to be on someone's wrist or finger. And our customer base is full of mega inspiring, stylish men and women, but if we could choose a few? Hmmm, Lenny Kravitz, his daughter Zoë or Kate Moss, maybe as style icons? And how bizarre would it be to have influential people who are hugely committed to the environment like Leonardo DiCaprio, Sir David Attenborough, or Greta Thunberg as customers?

And then the big question: where can we buy it?

Of course on our own website, but we are also available through Auverture, a jewelry platform by Bibi van der Velden, and the men's collection is available at FOUR on Van Baerlestraat in Amsterdam.

Now that we have broadened our collection, we are working on more points of sale, but those are outside the Netherlands.

And big question 2: what else is going to appear from your hand?

We just presented our rings, and that collection will be expanded even further. We also want to expand the ‘Into the woods’ bracelets made with sustainable African blackwood. However, we are busy with a new line that will be launched this spring, all of course sustainable and handmade. A little hint: they are not bracelets. Just as wearable and with beautiful details for the connoisseur. We are definitely very happy about it.