There are few things as quintessentially West Coast (not to mention cute) as the image of a fresh-faced, ocean-loving, wellie-wearing jewellery designer frolicking on Jericho Beach—except maybe the image of a fresh-faced, ocean-loving, wellie-wearing jewellery designer frolicking on Jericho Beach with her identical twin sister. Which is probably why Heather and Karen Hendry’s promo video is getting so many hits on Indiegogo.com, a crowd-sourcing site that helps people raise money for specific projects.

Unfortunately, though, hits don’t necessarily translate into dollars, and these adorable-as-hell former womb mates are hoping to take their karenjess jewellery line to the next level with a bigger studio and better tools.

As it stands now, Karen, the primary designer, is renting out a small shared space and borrowing many of her tools from friends and mentors. But despite their limited resources, the karenjess brass and silver seashore-inspired pieces are beautiful. Nature lovers will adore them! That’s why the Straight recently caught up with Karen at a local café to talk about their campaign, which ends at midnight on Thursday (June 27).

“I never really had seasons or even lines, really,” admits Karen, who started out as a self-taught hobbyist several years ago. “It was just like I would introduce a piece whenever I felt like it.”

Not anymore. The long-term goal is to turn karenjess into a full-time gig for her and Heather, who handles the business end of things and currently lives in Tofino. With that in mind, the sibs are officially relaunching on July 19 with two different fully realized collections.

The first is Washed Up, a core collection of various shells that Karen casts into solid silver and bronze pendants. In terms of selection, there’s more than enough to choose from here.

“My collection is massive,” says Karen. “I’ve collected shells ever since I can remember—just on every vacation, I’d either be on the beach or I’d want to be on the beach. I guess I’m just drawn to the ocean.”

One of the top sellers in this signature line is the silver Tofino clam-shell pendant attached to a long silver chain ($126). Another standout is the spiralled seashell pendant from Cox Bay, which Karen designed specifically for the Rip Curl Pro Tofino women’s trophy necklace—fitting, with Heather and Karen both passionate about ocean conservation and surf culture. (Did I mention these twins are cute as hell?)

The other collection is the Deep Cove line, a nod to their childhood digs. For these pieces, Karen didn’t have much luck finding whole seashells. So instead, she worked with bits of drift wood and pebbles from the area.

Highlights here include the silver bangles with bronze and silver rock-shaped charms (from $95 each). As well, the bronze bark pendant (from $65) is a standout layering piece.

In addition to a better workspace, Heather and Karen are planning on using their Indiegogo capital to compensate their marketing staff with something other than free swag.

“Everyone’s local and insanely talented,” says Karen, referring to the web designers, photographers, and all the other peeps pitching in to help relaunch karenjess. “They all wanted to help and be a part of it, and they’re willing to do it just because they want to... Or for jewellery, but ultimately, we want to be able to pay these people.”