Crafter of the Week: Courtney Sims Designs Jewelry to Empower Girls

Introducing 28-year-old Courtney Sims, model-turned-jewelry-maker who sells material things that actually matter. Hence the extra “t” in her company’s name, Matterial Fix. Sims has created a socially responsible brand by partnering with non-profits that empower girls. To inspire her collections, she relies on the mission of each non-profit and the culture of the country whose girls it supports.

The nearly six-foot tall California beauty had been a natural on the high-fashion runway, but she left it. “I fell in love with the creative aspect of the fashion world but I didn’t like seeing women being valued based on how they appear versus who they really are,” she says.

So she learned to express herself from the inside by working with her hands. She studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. “But some of the things I was imagining I just couldn’t make myself.” An internship in New York with then up-and-comer Alexis Bittar broadened her horizons. Sims learned how to make reproducible items, so that anything she dreamed up could be made real. “You design something on spec that you then can have made by a manufacturer,” she explains. She joined a manufacturing company as a behind-the-scenes designer for other brands.

“I liked the creative aspect but I never saw myself as a businesswoman. Then, in 2011, my father died. It made me think about legacies and impact. We go to work and clock out and make other people money. I wanted to make a difference.”

After a trip to India with her husband to travel and to serve with Harvest India, an NGO, Sims had an idea: a jewelry business that gives consumers an opportunity to make a difference when they make a purchase.

She hired a business consultant to help her create a business plan. “We were blending two worlds together. I wanted to make sure that it made sense from a business standpoint not just a creative standpoint.” She also brainstormed with non-profits to figure out how to make the most impact. Her background in bridge jewelry using brass with rhodium and gold plating helped her decide on the materials.  After number crunching, she settled on a retail price for her jewelry of $35 to $100. She would donate 10% of each sale to her non-profit partners.

Finally, she collaborated with her husband, a poet and writing teacher at UC Irvine, to come up with a story for the business. “Matterial Fix focuses on what is in our hands and how we can use it,” she says. “I don’t think anyone has to change what they are passionate about in order to give back.” The company launched in August of 2013.

Its first partner, Freedom Firm, rescues minors in India who have been forced into the commercial sex trade, restores their identities, and seeks justice against those who perpetrate the crimes. Sims designed a henna cuff, building on a pattern that she saw when she visited the country. It comes from a relief on a textile that had been block printed.

Matterial Fix differs from cause brands that pick a region of the world, teach skills to artisans there and then sell those artisans’ products. Sims, by contrast, makes designs that reflect the mission of the non-profit with whom she partners.

She created the popular Incan Studs in her Peru collection for Peruvian Hearts, a partner that educates girls in rural Peru. She saw girls work on textile patterns in Peru. The shapes inspired the earrings.

Her latest collaboration is with Girls Inc. The organization helps girls chase dreams that might not have been modeled for them by siblings or parents. Sims sees this as “breaking the mold.” She designed a hexagonal earring with links to separate the top from the bottom. This collection will launch this spring.

“I believe in the impact of a single girl. If given the opportunity, one girl has the potential to not only change her life, but her community, her family, and (later) her own children’s lives,” says Sims.

Matterial Fix sells mostly through its website, Lord and Taylor, Bloomingdales trunk shoes on the west coast, and subscription box companies such a RocksBox and Cause Box. This allows Sim-s to include an insert that tells the story of the particular piece, sending the message right to the consumer’s door.

"Creating is satisfying, but when it goes to good, it makes it even more so,” she says.