Interview with Michelle Gay, founder of Gold Trip
Read our interview with Michelle Gay, the founder of demi-fine jewellery brand Gold Trip. Gold Trip is an independent, British brand founded by Michelle in 2021. The collections are inspired by wanderlust, and formed on a belief that beautiful, high quality jewellery can be accessible and affordable.
What’s your career background?
After I graduated university, I did a short stint as a marketing and sales assistant for IBM in their Munich office, followed by working in a Danish design agency. After finding my feet a little, I moved back to the UK and into the world of luxury automotive, where I stayed for 13 years- launching and developing brands, learning about intricate design details and manufacturing methods and selling dream cars to customers all over the globe.
Where did the idea for Gold Trip come from?
I’ve always absolutely adored jewellery, but also have a keen interest in design and manufacturing. It was while I was working with luxury cars that I realised there was a niche for high-quality jewellery that was made from nice materials that were design-led but timeless and affordable. I was fortunate enough to have built up a small fine jewellery collection myself but never wanted to travel with it in case I lost it, so the idea for Gold Trip was born – jewellery that looks the part, is an investment, won’t irritate your skin, but also won’t cost you the earth!
How did you move from idea to actual business?
Lots of hard work and long hours! I always knew I wanted to have my own company one day, and when my previous career no longer felt right, my mind instantly went to another product-based business that I’ve always been obsessive over- jewellery! I started Gold Trip alongside my previous career after I became disenamoured with working in the car world, working most evenings and weekends on it- it felt like a hobby in those days and I’d regularly get so carried away I’d work into the night.
I did everything myself from sourcing suppliers, designing and procuring the jewellery, developing the brand feel, building the website, doing the photography and everything in between. Slowly but surely, the orders started trickling in- one a week, moving to one a day and then it just grew from there. The more orders we got, the more confidence I had to invest more of my savings in new collections. A big turning point was starting to do events and pop-ups.
Running an online business means you never really get to know your customers- but meeting them in real life and seeing how they interact with our jewellery gave me so much more insight and inspiration for new collections and products. I then took a tiny stand at a trade show in Harrogate in 2023 – selling my jewellery wholesale to boutiques and stores and that was a huge turning point – we sold out of so many styles and my eyes were open to a whole other world outside of B2C online sales.
What’s your brand’s USP?
The look, feel and experience of design-led, timeless fine jewellery but without the huge price tag.
Who’s your target audience?
Everyone! From little girls who need dainty studs suitable for sensitive ears, brides-to-be searching for their bridal jewellery, working women needing some sparkle in the office, mums who are marking their children’s birthdays with our birthstones or Zodiac-inspired collections, and men looking for gifts for their friends, partners or family. We love doing pop-ups and events for this reason – we get to see firsthand the motivation behind each purchase and seeing the love and care that goes into choosing.
How do you spread the word about what you do?
We do a lot of online and offline marketing through advertising, PR, local and national events and we’re also members of great organisations like The Giftware Association, The Company of Master Jewellers, and Buy Women Built.
What’s been your most successful marketing strategy?
Because we don’t have a store of our own, it’s probably the events we attend – putting faces to the brand and allowing people to see the jewellery up close, experience the quality and of course, try it on. The jewellery market is hugely saturated and there are so many online-only jewellery companies making claims they can’t always substantiate. So through customers actually experiencing our jewellery in real life, it gives them peace of mind that what they might go on to buy online is just as good, (or better!) as what they see on our website.
What’s been the biggest obstacle you’ve had to overcome?
Coming from the world of cars, we had to deal with a HUGE amount of legislation around every single aspect of the product. I thought I’d left most of those headaches behind me, but I’m still shocked on an almost weekly basis of how much, often complex, legislation there is – whether it’s around importing, exporting, selling to certain markets, hallmarking, packaging, recycling, financial reporting – there are so many rules that are constantly evolving, coming into practice and keeping me on my toes!
And your proudest moment so far?
There are so many proud moments- from seeing famous names appear in our orders to walking into a show and seeing a big stand with our name and logo and imagery, surrounded by customers buying my designs – it gets me every time. We got our biggest ever wholesale order at the end of last year and I remember standing watching the jewellery boxes for it get delivered off the back of the UPS truck, thinking about how many customers they’d be reaching once they were filled with jewellery.
It’s amazing to think you can start something from scratch in an industry you don’t have any experience in aside from being a customer of that product yourself, and grow it to something where you stumble across it in stores across the country and beyond. The growth comes from so much hard work and learning – there are so many challenges along the way, but that makes it all the more fulfilling when you overcome them and see the success that follows.
Why is work so important to you?
I think everyone needs a purpose- a reason to get up each day and then go to bed feeling like they’ve achieved something. That’s definitely what I get out of work – setting myself goals and working hard to achieve them, with all the experiences and learning that you gather along the way. Gold Trip is now at a point where we employ people both directly and indirectly, and it feels great to know something I started out of having lost my own sense of purpose previously is now providing that opportunity for others as well.
Who inspires you?
I have a few ‘women in business’ idols who are successful and command themselves really impressively. And my mum is also my idol – she raised me and my siblings alongside having a busy career and helping my dad grow his own business too. She’s supposed to be retired now but you’ll often find her helping me at Gold Trip events, or packing jewellery alongside the Gold Trip team at Christmas!
How do you balance your business with your family?
I’m not great at balancing work/life but I’m trying to get better. It helps that I do something I love and oftentimes it doesn’t feel like work. But I’ve had to become really good at scheduling in important dates so I don’t miss friends’ and family big moments too. I’m an avid traveller, so I try to tie in travel and some rest at the beginning or end of business trips.
What are your three top pieces of advice for someone wanting to do something similar?
Make sure you have supportive friends and family around you – to soundboard ideas, help you pack orders or build stands at events when you can’t yet afford ‘proper’ staff, and to hype you up when you’re feeling like you bit off more than you can chew!
Be patient – everything takes so much more time than you account for, success doesn’t happen overnight, it takes years of hard work and dedication Learn from your mistakes – you’ll make lots of them, especially in the early days, and that’s completely normal, just make sure you learn from them, and don’t be too hard on yourself – you’re doing the jobs of 10 people at once and can only do your best at that time.
Find out more about Gold Trip.
