Heated Rivalry, Queer Love, and Commitment Rings: a Conversation with Chouette Designs Founder
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 1 day ago
Chouette Designs, the queer-owned size-inclusive jewelry brand based in San Diego just announced the debut of Lovestoned, a new made-to-order commitment ring line featuring 15 unique styles designed for every way love shows up. It was time to catch up with owner and designer Ashley McGinty.
Sev Chouette is French for “cool” but also means “owl”, we need the origin story of the name of the brand! Tell us more.
Ashley Our brand name was born in a French class I took shortly after my wife and I were married. I was taking classes to better communicate with and understand her family, and when learning about the names of different animals, our teacher stopped at “chouette” to let us know we probably will hear it more frequently in a different context. I loved that double meaning and the nod to our own story.
Sev Take us back to the beginning. You launched a size-inclusive queer jewelry brand. You and your wife are both gorgeous, bigger women, like me. How much did your personal experience shopping for jewelry and clothes impact your business strategy?
Ashley I worked selling and merchandising fine jewelry for various other brands before starting out on my own. I frequently couldn’t wear the product I was selling, and would talk to many customers who shared the same experience. Jewelry sizing is not always correlated to body size- some plus size people wear straight size jewelry, and many straight size people need larger ring sizes. I was seeing a problem that was difficult to track, and I could understand how frustrating it was for the shopper because I was also experiencing it! Approaching our strategy as a desire to serve all kinds of people in an industry that thrives on exclusivity is what sets us apart.
Sev American wife and French wife running a whole jewelry brand together, what’s that dynamic actually like? Who has the final say on a design, and has she ever given you that very specific French look of disapproval that my husband adores 😁?
Ashley Haha! I know that look well! Marine usually trusts me on design, as she has a background in science. However, her eye is always valuable to me because she sees things as the customer would. Running a business with your spouse is definitely challenging, but so far we’ve been successful because we prioritize communication and logging off every once in a while.
Sev A lot of queer couples have spent years retrofitting straight wedding traditions to fit their relationships. How does Lovestoned give people something that was actually made for them?
Ashley Our jewelry has intentionally never been gendered or given a label of “men’s” or “women’s”, and offering everything across the sizing spectrum means it doesn’t have to be. Making the rings to order also allows for more customization. If you want color, lab grown, salt and pepper, we will make it happen. Each ring is literally made for the wearer, so no two will be exactly alike.
Sev Can you highlight for us what couples should expect when shopping the collection? What is the process?
Ashley You can either shop online or in our San Diego studio. If shopping online, select your preferred ring and check out. We will reach out to schedule a stone consultation if applicable for a center stone and then make your ring with your specifications. It’s very similar to our custom process now, but will be streamlined. It’s great if you want more tools to visualize your piece, or if you need something in a quicker time frame.
Sev You design commitment rings for queer couples and your current Roman Empire is apparently a show about two men spending eight years running from the love of their lives. Did you feel deeply seen watching Heated Rivalry? Side note, as a straight woman, like many, I love the show too.
Ashley Haha I love that it is June and we are still at the cottage! I loved seeing a piece of queer media where things didn’t default to catastrophe. When we consume queer stories we often wait for the other shoe to drop- for a character to get beat up, outed, to die of AIDs, for their safe space to be raided. “Heated Rivalry” was a balm to that experience. Yes, there is conflict in the story, but it had healing too.
Sev Shane and Ilya’s whole arc is about a love that exists outside the rules society wrote for it. That’s kind of exactly what Lovestoned is about. Any rings in particular that would be great for them?
Ashley It would be a dream to provide rings for a future season (Jacob Tierney call me!). I think I’d put Shane in something simple like the Soleil Band in white gold. It features a prominent twist (an ode to our debut collection in 2021), and I’d engrave it with lillies- a subtle nod to the alias Ilya used when the two began their relationship. Ilya would be in yellow gold to match his Russian cross. I’d suggest for him the Celeste Ring, a wide band that features scattered burnished set diamonds. One of the stones should be an emerald though- he’d want the flashy color, and it’s canonically Shane’s birthstone.
Sev The wedding industry is slowly catching up on inclusivity. What’s the one thing you wish vendors would just get already?
Ashley At the end of the day, people want to feel seen. I hope that vendors take the time to find out what pronouns their customers use, what ring size they wear, or what gemstones they prefer without judgement.
Sev A majority of your clients are LGBTQ couples. What’s one thing those clients say that heterosexual couples almost never do?
Ashley The surprising thing is there really isn’t such a stark divide. Straight men are opting for more gemstones and color, straight women are self purchasing, LGBTQ couples still sometimes pick traditional settings. I think what they all have in common is they want something they couldn’t find anywhere else- either community, unique designs or both.
Campaign photos by Melissa McClure
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