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Forbes

A Founder's Story: Meet Missoma Founder, Marisa Hordern

Melissa Hordern, Founder of jewelry brand, Missoma, created the category of demi-fine jewelry when she launched in 2007. She's pictured here with Missoma collaborator, designer Harris Reed. MISSOMA 'I'm a very go with the gut person, a creative and an ideas person, and I like to inspire my team. I always say my job is Chief Cheerleader,' laughs Marisa Hordern. A humble notion, but the truth is that Hordern is much more than a cheerleader. She is the founder of the jewelry brand Missoma, a company that defined an entire category of jewelry, demi-fine, into existence when it launched. Since then, she's gone on to build Missoma into a brand that in 2024 turned 26.5m GBP (nearly 34m USD). Missoma's story started in 2007, but it took Hordern 7 years after that to properly lay the foundation of the brand. Those years comprised of grueling trials and errors that required Hordern to lead the business through different iterations, building, and rebuilding until she landed where Missoma stands today—the apex of quality, price and design. We met on a blustery March day at her Marylebone store and despite the unfriendly weather, Hordern greeted me with a wide-open smile and electric energy. I spent the day with her, in her shop, with her teams, over lunch, and fighting the weather on the Marylebone High Street. In a world where founders and designers are flanked by staff while in the presence of press to keep messages 'on brand' (Hordern's team is there to support, but not to handle the reins), her accessibility and transparency are refreshing. Exciting, even. Because the freedom creates the space for a true founder's story to emerge, one that includes all the grit and setbacks. 'I spent 7 years in the wilderness,' Hordern says when recalling the startup days of Missoma. 'I have done the hardcore.' 'I spent 7 years in the wilderness,' Hordern says when recalling the startup days of Missoma. 'I have done the hardcore.' In those beginning days it was all hands on deck, and those hands were usually hers aided with support from loyal loved ones. She personally conducted every press visit and wholesale salon and recalls, 'I used to go up and down the country with my suitcase of wares to wherever it was–Glasgow, Winchester–selling,' she says. 'There were times my dad would build a trade show booth, putting up all the shelves. When I did Basel World, well, I used to sleep in a student's spare bedroom on a futon with a cat litter next to my head.' Missoma was launched before the internet had evolved into the information superhighway and manufacturers were discovered through shows in Bangkok and Hong Kong followed by site visits to facilities. 'I think young people don't realize that you couldn't just Google it then, or send a cold email. You had to seek it out, you had to fly across the world,' Hordern explains. Laying groundwork was one aspect of those early years, but keeping the bottom line afloat while doing so required her to be creative. There was a stage where she white-labeled jewelry for massive retailers–a substantial source of cash flow at the time–but stopped when it didn't yield the margins and ROI to make the venture worthwhile. Hordern also found healthy revenue through QVC and ShopNBC, but live TV required heavy-lifting of a different sort. 'I used to fly to Minneapolis and stay in a Hilton Inn on the roadside. There was nowhere to get healthy food for my daughter, it was pizza or the like,' the Londoner recalls. 'Then, I would go and do four hours live.' 'I had to make ends meet and keep the business going as we were still finding our way, finding our voice, finding our niche. Those were really–really–difficult years.' A piece for the new Sculptural Air collection is an example of Hordern's commitment to quality through handmade, creative design offered at an approachable price point. MISSOMA What did happen during those 7 years is that Missoma grew, and it grew organically through word of mouth. In the process, she had also invented the demi-fine jewelry segment spurred by the brand's presence on Net-a-Porter, who coined the term as a new subcategory. Before that, jewelry was either only fine or costume. Demi-fine mixes materials such as precious or semi-precious stones, sterling silver, and gold, but also offers pieces in gold vermeil, bridging the gap between fine and fashion jewelry reflected in the price points. Thankfully for Hordern, her challenges these days are of different sorts. She's working on the specific formula for her business to thrive in the lucrative, but complicated, Chinese market, and employs teams and partners to tailor logistics, product and marketing there. 'We were profitable in year one, which is very hard to do in China,' she says. She is constantly working on how to keep counterfeiters at bay. She is also committed to owning as many points of the supply and production chains as possible. This isn't only about quality control but also the maximization of time as a resource. When your content studio is in-house or your warehouse is only 25 minutes away (a costly investment in London) the time saved by this streamlining gives Missoma a sharp business advantage. 'When the warehouse is only a 25-minute drive, if there's an issue or you need something suddenly, we can just go there,' she says. I asked British Vogue's Deputy Editor, Sarah Harris, someone whose authority and longevity in the industry are undisputed, to share her point of view on the brand this founder has built. 'Not only are Missoma one of the original innovators in the space, but they have crafted an identifiable and highly covetable aesthetic whilst also creating very versatile collections which span generations and communities in their appeal,' Harris says. Hordern continues to march to the beat of her own drum. She's already proclaimed she goes with her gut, but in business practice it is even more obvious. For instance, her conviction to quality trickles down to every touch point. Her product? It's all still handmade. Her warehouse? It's bespoke—'It's the most beautiful warehouse with poured pale gray, concrete floors.' Her collaborations? It's never a simple one-off, she hands over the keys to the kingdom. Even with approachable price points, Hordern is committed to offering her customers high quality pieces, which are handmade in India and Thailand MISSOMA Take, for example, the collaboration with designer Harris Reed. The price point soars above anything else on Missoma's site which is highly unusual for a collaboration. Normally, a collaborator is given strict parameters regarding inputs such as material and projected price point in order to reap maximum ROI. What the price of the Harris Reed collection truly reflects is Hordern's support in allowing the designer to create exactly what he wanted, without restraint, and not simply to profit from his name. Now, the Harris Reed collection is one of the best-selling collections on the site. 'Marisa is truly unique, I have never worked with anyone who combines such incredible energy, creativity, and business acumen,' says Reed when asked about working with Hordern. 'Every meeting is a joy and I'm so proud of the pieces we have created together.' The trouble with spending this much time with a high-voltage, creative founder such as Hordern is that so much is shared, making it nearly impossible to fit everything into one story. Pulling on the threads of her experiences from the hows and whys of growing the business to the way she hires and trains her teams, to starting in wholesale to only abandon it for direct-to-consumer, to the reasons why she chooses to design and produce Missoma products by hand—'It's such a process of love, each collection takes about a year to process, from start to finish,'—requires this profile to be turned into something much bigger. Hordern's journey is certainly case study worthy. 'This is not fast fashion, everything is designed, refined and perfected,' are the words she uses when she describes her jewelry. In truth, I learn during our time that these ideas mirror Hordern's values towards life—a healthy mix of intention, conviction, clarity, and excellence. Want to know British Vogue's Sarah Harris's favorite Missoma pieces? Click the links below to see which pieces she loves, in her own words. 'I love the simplicity of this gold chain, with a white tee and tailored pants. It's classic but also unique with those mismatched organically shaped links. It has a point of difference which is rare to find.' 'I love a link chain, there is something about the masculinity of the link coupled with the delicacy of the design. so great for day or night.' 'I have a perennial love for the tennis bracelet; it is the epitome of elegance. I love this necklace for that reason and can envisage it as the perfect singular accessory for a glamorous evening out, or for that matter with jeans and a t-shirt, or even on the beach with nothing more than a black bikini and white, unbuttoned shirt. I never get bored of diamonds in the sun.'