Some take care of babies, others make wine while studying. Laura Schmutzler does it differently – to finance her studies, she founded her own jewelry brand at the age of 20.

SALZBURG. Student Laura Schmutzler set up her own jewelery brand “Lauriane” when she was still a student.

From wood to jewellery

Communications student Laura Schmutzler can no longer see wood after her school days at the HTL Hallein with a focus on interior design. However, her love of design has stayed with her from her HTL time. After graduating from high school, Schmutzler discovered her passion for jewelry design.

What she liked could not be bought anywhere and she has always preferred jewelry. After approaching several acquaintances about their pieces of jewellery, they had the idea of ​​starting their own business: at the young age of 20, Schmutzler founded the “Lauriane” jewelery brand.

pearls “like from grandma”

The special thing about her brand: Pearls on almost every piece of jewelry. “My grandmother always liked to wear pearl jewelry. I always thought her jewelry was really beautiful,” she says.

“A lot of people say pearl jewelry is old-fashioned. I want to make pearl jewelry for younger people.”
– Laura Schmutzler

With her modern jewelry designs, she wants to wear the fact that not only grandmas can wear pearl jewelry. The student mainly uses social media to get her jewelry out to young people. Influencers with over 100,000 subscribers advertise their jewelry online. She recently started promoting her brand on Tiktok.

Jump into cold water

“I was thrown in at the deep end,” Schmutzler looks back on her early days as a freelancer. She asked her way through various advice centers when she didn’t know what to do. Despite the hurdles and confusion in the early days, she can recommend others to start their own business early on. “If someone has a dream, they should realize it,” said Schmutzler.

With “Lauriane”, the student does everything herself at her desk, from the sketch to the final product. In addition to the durability of the jewelry, sustainability and regionality are important to her. Schmutzler only makes the jewelry when she receives an order. The packaging is made from recycled material. Schmutzler deliberately orders pearls from Italy and not from Asia. “I will counteract the mainstream and the big jewelry brands with their mass processing,” says Schmutzler.

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