When a passion becomes a business: Grace Kelly x The Blue Butterfly
Grace Kelly has always had a love for flowers and the hidden meanings that they hold, which ultimately led to the creation of The Blue Butterfly.
“My favorite book of all time is called the Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, and I wanted to make my mom a gift using flowers that had special meanings,” said Kelly. “Which I thought was a cute idea and has always been in the back of my mind.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelly found herself experimenting with different creative outlets.
“I was doing a lot of sewing because I always loved to sew. And then I thought it would be fun to start making jewelry,” Kelly said.
Kelly’s love for fresh flowers allowed her to repurpose them creatively.
“I had leftover flowers from a bouquet, and I decided to Google how to press them and reuse them, which I found out was a timely process, but I had fun learning how to do it,” said Kelly.
This led her to start keeping these leftover flowers in journals and to ultimately create different jewelry pieces, such as pendants and earrings, out of them.
Since the conception of The Blue Butterfly, Kelly is grateful to see how far she has come in her work through trial and error.
“The first time I sold something, it broke, and I was so embarrassed,” said Kelly, “but the girl who bought it has now bought so many things from me, so she has the first thing I ever made to my recent things, so it feels good to see how far I have come.”
Parts of The Blue Butterfly’s proceeds go to different organizations that combat climate change, such as Greenpeace, which she believes is the proper thing to do as a sustainable business owner.
“Although I do make a small profit from my sales, I charge for my jewelry what it costs to make plus what I’m donating,” said Kelly.
Due to her passion for being sustainable, she believes that it is essential to ‘practice what you preach’; it doesn’t hurt to donate 25 cents or $1 for each sale, she added.
Although she is not a 100% sustainable business, Kelly is actively trying to become more sustainable in her business practices despite its challenges.
“Does it cost a lot more to be sustainable, yes, but one step I take is to know where my supplies are coming from,” said Kelly, “so when someone reaches out to me and asks where my supplies are from, I can give them a link to it.”
In terms of sourcing her materials, Kelly highlights that about 70% of the plants used are either donated or grown. Also, they are dried by herself or someone in her community. While the other 30% comes from online, eco-friendly dried-flower boutiques and small businesses that specialize in resin flowers, she added.
“I almost always try to support small business when it comes to sourcing,” said Kelly; the fixings are the trickiest thing to source as it is hard to come by more sustainable options, so I change my process quite often in that respect.”
As a junior design and merchandising student at Drexel University, Kelly believes that the program has helped her understand the importance of being sustainable in fashion.
“I would not know half of what I know about sustainability if it wasn’t for Drexel or be able to practice in business operations,” said Kelly.
The program taught me that sustainability is attainable and necessary for the planet, she added.
Kelly is looking forward to the future and hopes that The Blue Butterfly will lead to something bigger.
“My end goal would be to open up a small business in Philadelphia that only sells sustainable products from clothing to skincare,” said Kelly.
Although the COVID-19 has changed the way people shop retail, she still communicates with her customers through social media.
“I love that sense of community, especially in today’s time where people aren’t able to talk face to face; it’s nice to be able to have people through you know your business,” said Kelly.
Image credit to Grace Kelly and The Blue Butterfly Instagram