The artists and jewelry designers at llyn strong have plenty to be grateful for in 2021. From the relocation to our new store in Midtown Greenville to the continuation of our gemstone roundtable, we embraced the old and the new with open arms this past year. As we celebrate the holiday season and ring in 2022, we wanted to take stock of all the memorable events, notable changes, and our favorite memories of 2021.
Our New Store in Midtown
Yeah, THAT Midtown. When llyn strong moved from downtown Main Street to Greenville’s newest hot spot—Midtown Greenville—we were excited to meet our new neighbors. From its fine dining, local BBQ joints, and specialty shops and boutiques, we were thrilled to become a part of the new Midtown experience.
Admittedly, we were also a little apprehensive.
Would our customers support our new move? We knew we had a faithful fanbase in the Greenville jewelry community, but anytime a store changes locations, they are taking a risk.
Suffice it to say, we couldn’t be happier with our new digs at 1322 E. Washington Street. Our new space gave us the room to spread our wings—literally and figuratively. Most jewelry stores in Greenville, SC don’t have the opportunity our new home afforded us: we can now show our customers what makes llyn strong exceptional.
Our customers came to our new store in droves and were delighted to see our benches, our studio, and our 3D printer, all used by the artisans who manufacture our custom luxury jewelry.
Thanks for welcoming us Midtown! And thank you to our customers for coming on this journey with us.
A Year of Metamorphosis: New Butterfly Jewelry
Inspired by our transition to our new store, the jewelry designers at llyn strong wanted to capture the excitement and spirit of our metamorphosis in our handcrafted jewelry. What better way than new additions that took transformation, in the form of butterflies, as its theme?
To commemorate our own transformation, we created the Butterfly Collection, including the three new pieces of artisanal jewelry pictured here. These pieces conjure the beauty of transforming and becoming.
Our Social Facelift
2021 also seemed a great year to give our social media presence a facelift. We collaborated with a local Greenville agency, Max DiNatale Digital Marketing, to expand our presence on Facebook and Instagram.
On Instagram, we generated a lot of steam with photos of our custom jewelry, building a presence of more than 3,000 followers—most of them local. On Facebook, many of our customers shared their positive impressions of llyn strong, as well as photos of our jewelry.
We know that there’s quite a bit of overlap between the customers who shop either in our store or online and our social media followers, and we are consistently grateful and impressed with the passion of both.
Gemstone Roundtables
If you know anything about llyn strong, you know we have a deep and abiding interest in gemology. We regularly host the Gemstone Roundables, where we feature loose precious gemstones that dazzle in their splendor.
As soon as we opened the doors to our new store, we received an orange Sunstone from Oregon, cut into a marquise by master gemcutter Alexander Kreis. (#78 in our Virtual Gemstone Roundtable.)
Good tidings for our new location indeed!
Sunstones are a rare find: while we added “from Oregon” above, it should be noted that gem-quality Sunstones are only found in the Beaver State. These gems are never, unlike many other gems, heated, irradiated, or colored, but naturally shine in shades that move from Light to Aerospace to Burnt Orange like the one in the video. This particular stone exhibits a glow due to the millions of microscopic copper platelets embedded within.
We have, and will continue, to feature interesting, beautiful, and scintillating precious gemstones on our site in 2022, and hopefully for many years to come.
Greenville Sphere Ornament
Lastly, to cap off our year in grand style, we released our 2021 Greenville Sphere Ornament:
Like the Greenville Sphere Pendant, which came out earlier in the year, these ornaments contain six distinct icons, each a constitutive feature of our hometown. They include: the Poinsettia, the Greenville “G,” the Liberty Bridge, the Midtown Greenville logo, the Peace Angel, and the Butterfly.
You can read more about each symbol in a blog post we published a few months back. Our holiday ornament also features the year 2021, and a swamp rabbit.
2021 was a whirlwind year for llyn strong: we embarked on new ventures, hazarded new fortunes, while continuing to remain wedded to our roots as your local Greenville jewelry designers.
While we’re tipping our glasses of bubbly at the end of the holiday season this year, we’ll look back with fondness at all the things we accomplished—all the new pieces we crafted, which would fill an entire book, nevermind a blog post; our relocation to the vibrant and upcoming Midtown Greenville; and our continued embrace and promotion of local businesses, artists, and Greenville culture.
We look forward to seeing you all in 2022 to begin things anew.