Jewelry Empress Rocío Gallar's Midas Touch
Co-Founder of Simuero—the Valencia-based jewelry brand—on sticking to morals, dodges influencer marketing and growing a cult following by chance
Last night, at a block party for a wine bar, someone held my pointer finger up to the streetlamp and, gazing, said, “Now that’s a ring!” It is, and I bought it from Simuero, a Valencia-based jewelry company, three years ago.
When it gets colder in New York and my skin starts looking pallid, I stalk them online the way others might stalk an ex. Hungrily scrolling through their Instagram I see golden satin skin draped in gilded calico shells, a slippery hand with oodles of lumpy silver, like a crystal-blinged knuckle duster. And I think, these people, these people…what must it be like?
I connected with Rocío Gallar to figure out just that.
“We'd get off work late and were looking for an activity to do together, something to clear our minds.” Rocío says of she and her co-founder (and partner) Jorge Ros. On a whim, they’d joined a ceramics class to balance their corporate fashion careers and Simuero was a side project that began after dinner. That is, until it wasn’t.
“Within six months, we were already making a living from jewelry.” I connect with her to investigate their Midas touch, remaining true to their values (“day I stop doing it this way, Simuero won’t exist”) and the freedom that comes with not trying to grow an audience.
Tell me about how Simuero was first born. Were you making jewelry for yourself prior?
We started by chance. We wanted to do something hands-on; we'd get off work late and were looking for an activity to do together, something to clear our minds. We found a workshop on our street and started with a lot of excitement. We were fascinated by the idea of creating any shape we wanted, imagining and translating ideas into pieces. It all happened by chance, and now we can’t live without it. I think it’s the perfect blend of product design and fashion, which is why we connect so well in this world.
Was it an instant success or lots of toil?
It was a very gradual process. Luckily, we didn’t need money because we already had jobs; Simuero was a passion project that started at 7 p.m., so it was more about having fun than feeling pressured. We started selling on a website that Jorge created, and the total investment was less than €200, so there was never any pressure, and we enjoyed the entire process from the ground up. Within six months, we were already making a living from jewelry, and people really embraced the project.
In a landscape that is overrun with trends, how did you hone your visual aesthetic?
The market has a lot to do with attraction—sleeping with someone good-looking but soulless isn’t something anyone really wants. We seek authenticity, truth, and honesty. So, I’d say the only three keys are: staying true to who you are and trying to ignore others' work, working with love and dedication from day one, and having a bit of luck (in my case, finding Jorge).
So, from my point of view, "success" has to do with the fact that there is truth and love behind the project.
Jewelry can be really hard to capture in photos (I was a photographer for a jewelry company one summer and it was the bane of my existence) but your photo campaigns convey both the piece and the natural ethos of Simuero. How do you plan shoots?
Creating your pieces from start to finish allows you to fully understand their silhouette and approach them from their most beautiful, radiant angle, so you really appreciate them and can't resist taking photos. Having all day to make the most of the light, rather than just a moment during the shoot, makes a big difference.
We choose models based on their energy, aiming for them to convey the strength with which we create our pieces. We always work with friends to ensure everything flows better and to make the daily process more enjoyable. We send pieces to those we admire, letting talented people work their magic, and that's when the magic happens.
Have you had any moments that have catapulted Simuero into bigger audiences? (I’m thinking of Kendall Jenner wearing your earrings at the Super Bowl in 2022)
I don't think so; it's been gradual. We didn't notice a big boost from Kendall because the people who saw it and knew she was wearing Simuero were already our followers, so we didn't see a huge impact from that moment. It feels like everything has grown very organically in every sense.
Thoughts on influencer marketing?