While luxury goods have been around forever, the concept of quiet luxury is having a moment in 2023. High-end fashion, accessories, and furnishings – valued for their quality and, yes, price – are being acquired, worn, and displayed with a shift in mood. It’s no longer about conspicuous consumption and designer logos. Instead, quiet luxury is a low-key celebration of quality goods crafted with elegance and timelessness in
mind. Like wealth itself, it doesn’t shout, it whispers.
At the forefront of the quiet-luxury movement is Haverhill Leach, an American jewelry designer and the founder of an eponymous jewelry manufacturing company.
HAVERHILL crafts personalized fine jewelry in its Rhode Island studio – classic (though never austere) pieces featuring customers’ choice of birthstones, letters, and symbols. The result is meaningful jewelry designed for everyday wear that can also be handed down through generations.
Table of Contents
A family legacy of jewelry
Born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, Leach represents the fifth generation of her family to be in the jewelry business. In the 1890s her great-great-grandfather, Edwin Leach, founded Leach and Miller, a jewelry company known for its Art Deco bracelets.
Great-grandfather Edwin F. Leach founded Leach & Garner in 1899; his company became a global supplier of essential precious-metal findings such as clasps, beads, and balls to the jewelry industry. Leach’s grandfather Philip Leach expanded the company to create components for the electronics and eyeglass industries. Her father, Edwin F. “Ted” Leach II, grew the company internationally. He also hosted a successful jewelry show, EternaGold, on the QVC shopping channel for 25 years.
Leach attended Syracuse University, spending a semester studying at the London
College of Fashion and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in fashion design in 2001. After college, she interned with several well-known design houses, including Vivienne Westwood, Joseph Abboud, and David Yurman. She also worked as an accessories designer at Kate Spade and Mayle.
In 2006, Leach moved to Los Angeles, where she established a swimwear line that was sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Anthropologie, and Harvey Nichols, as well as many small, high-end boutiques across the U.S. and Europe. Her swimwear was featured on the covers and editorial pages of magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Vanity Fair, and Sports Illustrated.
Shifting from fashion to jewelry
By 2013, Leach had taken a break from the fashion industry and was busy raising her children in Los Angeles. After her father asked for some ideas for a jewelry collection he was creating, Leach felt drawn to the family business and began sketching designs.
Moving back to the East Coast later that year, she established HAVERHILL, Inc. by traveling throughout the United States, and selling her jewelry at in-person functions such as trunk shows, art shows, charity fundraisers, and equestrian events.
In 2013 the new company won the prestigious Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. Leach used the prize money to create an entire collection of jewelry, comprised mostly of statement pieces in sterling silver, 14k gold, and semi-precious stones.
Making meaningful jewelry through personalization
From 2013 to 2018, HAVERHILL continued as a direct-to-consumer business, with the bulk of its sales coming from trunk shows. In 2018, Leach’s husband and business partner, Andrej Strojin, joined the company as CEO. In response to increasing requests from customers for birthstones, the company shifted its focus to personalized jewelry.
While still traveling to trunk shows, Leach and Stojin built a new website for the company, one which would allow customers to select and personalize fine jewelry with birthstones, letters, and symbols. Now customers could see their custom creations in real time, not just when their orders arrived.
During the 2020 lockdown, Leach and Stojin continued manufacturing at their home,
refining designs and achieving the quick order-to-delivery turnarounds the company is known for. Business started to boom, and by 2021 the company had moved into its first Rhode Island studio. Within a year, it outgrew this space and moved to a larger location. With a focus now on crafting all jewelry in-house, HAVERHILL began building a factory from scratch, hiring master craftsmen and consulting with them on the best machines and technology to invest in.
Thoughtful, sustainable manufacturing
As a commitment to the environment, Leach’s company uses conflict-free materials. Its precious gemstones are all sustainably grown, and its metals are all traceable and 100% recycled.
HAVERHILL jewelry has been featured in print and online magazines such as Forbes, Town & Country, People, Harper’s Bazaar, Us Weekly, Marie Claire, Life & Style, Nylon,
Teen Vogue, and Brides. It’s been worn by celebrities including January Jones, Ashley Graham, Jana Kramer, Mckayla Maroney, Jenna Dewan,, and Sarah Michelle Geller.
Inspired by the trunk shows that often served as fundraisers for charitable causes, Leach instituted the company’s Shop for Good program – jewelry collections that have a portion of their proceeds donated to nonprofit organizations that champion social causes. Currently the company produces jewelry collections that support the following organizations: The Trevor Project, Catalyst, Bright Pink, The Nature Conservancy, Color of Change, Meals on Wheels America, Americans for Immigrant Justice, Toys for Tots, and Save the Children.
Quiet, affordable luxury
HAVERHILL jewelry is a perfect example of today’s quiet-luxury mood. Elegant and understated, with a few bolder pieces mixed in, the jewelry is crafted in solid 14k gold and genuine gemstones, all handcrafted at the company’s coastal studio. These pieces are meant to be lived in – customers are assured that they can sleep, swim, and sweat
in their jewelry. And what’s more, these meaningful pieces can be handed down through generations, carrying family stories through the years.
The very opposite of “bling,” Leach’s jewelry is not only an investment in quality, but deeply personal keepsakes that tie its wearers to family and memories. It’s also an elegant, and often playful, way to express their personality.
Now, will the pendulum turn back toward flashy, showy luxe goods? Probably – fashion trends tend to be cyclical. But timeless jewelry is called timeless for a reason, so as long as there are people who value beautifully designed, high-end pieces that transcend trends, there will be an eager audience for Leach’s classic, eminently wearable jewelry.
