Designing Elegance: How Sloane Street by Gadbois Jewelry Shines

As co-founder and head of marketing and sales, Charlotte Gadbois models an array of Classics and Spectrum products from Sloane Street

Craftmanship, vibrant pops of color and a commitment to quality — these are just some of the facets that make Sloane Street by Gadbois Jewelry a major player in the luxury jewelry space, an exclusive line carried by premier OKC retailers BC Clark and Naifeh Fine Jewelry. But while Sloane Street and other brands may use similar types of precious gems and metals, no one else can duplicate this label’s distinctive heart.

“What people don’t realize is that jewelry is so personal for so many reasons. It evokes emotion in so many different capacities,” says co-founder Charlotte Gadbois. “Whether it is an heirloom piece passed on by a special grandparent or something that marked a special milestone, jewelry has the power to time-stamp memories.”

Their commitment to honoring those memories is one of the reasons powerhouse mother-daughter duo Frances and Charlotte Gadbois created Sloane Street in the first place. 

Not Just a Street; a Memory

In 2014, fate dealt an unexpected blow to the Gadbois family, casting a shadow over their lives: Charlotte’s grandmother had just suffered a fall that hastened the progression of her diagnosed Alzheimer’s Disease. Charlotte, her mother Frances and other family members traveled to the United Kingdom to see her in what the family presumed would be her final moments. 

As they were unsure of when that last moment would be, the family committed to staying up with her in shifts. While allowing other family members to sleep, Charlotte and Frances had some deep conversations. 

“During a shift my mom and I were on together, we started talking about ‘What are you going to do when you graduate?’” remembers Charlotte. “And I answered her question with, ‘Well, I actually have always wanted to go into business with you.’” 

While mother and daughter both were “excited about the possibility of working together,” they weren’t sure where to start. After discussing potential business ideas in fashion or interior design, the pair settled on jewelry. Frances, a 20-year jewelry industry veteran, had just sold her stake in her jewelry business JudeFrances Jewelry before tragedy struck their family. 

Frances’ mother and Charlotte’s grandmother passed away within a day of the pair deciding to go into business together.

On the train back from her funeral, the two worked on a business plan on a napkin before realizing they didn’t have a name for the new venture. Charlotte suggested that they adopt Sloane Street as the business name. 

This high-end shopping destination in London was a key part of their memories of their mother and grandmother. Once they discovered the website domain was available, they agreed that this name was the perfect fit for their business. 

“It was a hard loss, but we wanted to pay homage to the woman who brought us together in the first place — very much the silver lining of the tough situation,” says Charlotte. 

Frances assumed the responsibility of CEO and lead designer, while Charlotte took on the role of head of sales and marketing, emerging as the spokeswoman of the company and the primary model of Sloane Street’s jewelry collections.

The Process and Passion of Creating Collections

Both mother and daughter blend their creativity, eye for trends and skill to create Sloane Street’s intricate jewelry collections. 

Charlotte asserted that a significant source of inspiration for all Sloane Street collections stems from the shared interests of the two co-founders. Influences from travels, European architecture and interior design elements like a banister, rug or chandelier often drive what they create together.

Frances, with her English heritage and previous career as an interior designer, also carries these perspectives to her work as Sloane Street’s lead designer. According to Charlotte, Frances is seldom found without her sketchbook — and if she doesn’t have one, she makes one by sketching designs on scrap paper or the backs of receipts.

“Sometimes we will have been on the road for events in different cities every day and typically getting into our hotels late at night,” Charlotte says. “We are half-asleep, finally checked in and headed to our room — and she will stop dead in her tracks and whip out any piece of paper she can find in that moment and start sketching the design of the hallway carpet or wallpaper.” 

Aside from times when design inspiration strikes, the co-founders’ creation of a collection starts at least a year in advance. The process starts with outlining the theme or basic motifs of the entire collection in a week-long intensive planning and design session.

“The first few days are started by bouncing ideas off one another — basically throwing a bunch of mud and seeing what sticks,” explains Charlotte. “Once we find a direction, typically it’s a new motif or design, we continue to build out the categories (ring, bracelet, earring, chain, pendant) from there to form a collection.”

From Raw Design to Polished Product

Stone selection often comes next in creating their designs. For the two co-founders, the gemstone is the cornerstone of their design process. 

While the team does use diamonds in some collections, choosing other precious gems of different hues is a prominent part of Sloane Street’s signature style. Its two main color collections are the Spectrum and Caviar One-of-a-Kind collections.

“Every gemstone we use in our Spectrum collection is cut to our specifications. We do not use any calibrated (machine-cut) stones, so every stone is cut for our designs,” says Charlotte. This is in contrast to many other jewelry brands creating designs around what stone cuts are available, which is less unique. 

She then explained that the other color collection, the Caviar Collection, is made from incomparable stones sought for their vibrant colors and “fire,” which measures the sparkle or flash of color from refracting light hitting a gemstone. For the Caviar Collection, the process of creating these pieces is reversed: pieces are built around the chosen stone, not the other way around. 

The next part of the creation process is similar to many other jewelers but with a Sloane Street twist. After a piece’s individual components are formalized, they are drawn technically to scale, with specifications for stone sizes and fixture and band measurements. Following that, a computer-aided design (CAD) model is meticulously created for the piece, facilitating the 3D printing of molds from which the designs are later cast. 

It’s in the final step, the finish, that Sloane Street’s identity shines. 

“Throughout the collections, you will see a texturized finish called a strié. It came from Frances’ previous life in interior design,” says Charlotte. She explains that this finish is a paint flourish when an individual combs through wet paint to create ridges in a wall’s painted finish. This strié texture is utilized in many pieces across the Sloane Street brand. 

“For the process of creating [strié] in our pieces, the texturing is cast in the mold, and then each line is hand-finished by our master jewelers,” she says. This attention to detail further showcases not just the brand identity of Sloane Street, but the depth of care and attention given each piece. 

The Legacy of Sloane Street

One of Charlotte’s goals for Sloane Street is not just to create beautiful, cherished pieces of art, but make a meaningful difference in the lives of people in her community. 

In 2015, soon after the brand was debuted, they launched the first line of charitable jewelry to support the Alzheimer’s Association, created in honor of the Gadbois’ mother and grandmother’s memory.

They introduced two other charitable collections, one supporting CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Orange County and the other Laura’s House, an emergency shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Sloane Street donates a portion of the proceeds from every sale directly to these worthy organizations.

“Above all, we wish for the Sloane Street legacy to be one of love; love for art, love for family and love for the world that inspires our creations,” says Charlotte. “It is our hope that this sentiment continues to be felt by everyone who comes into contact with our pieces, today and for generations to come.”

To find Sloane Street by Gadbois Jewelry in OKC, visit BC Clark (bcclark.com) and Naifeh Fine Jewelry (naifehfinejewelry.com). •