Behind The Brand

SORU: from Sicilian “soru”, meaning sister.

 
Born from a love of jewellery and an inspired half-Sicilian upbringing, sisters Francesca and Marianna founded Soru to create luxurious and unique jewellery, made using high quality materials and sold at attainable prices. Each piece is ethically handmade in Italy or Turkey, using solid gold or gold-plated sterling silver and semi-precious gemstones.
 
Over the years, Soru has attained a diverse celebrity following, including HRH The Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Michelle Visage, Chiara Ferragni, Negin Mirsalehi, Rita Ora, Jessie J and Millie Mackintosh.
 
Soru can be found in select retailers worldwide, such as Selfridges, Harrods, Fenwick and Harvey Nichols. Find all our stockists here.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We strive to create a high quality, semi-fine fusion of statement and everyday jewellery collections, using precious metals and semi-precious gemstones to make every wearer feel her best. Our aim is for the creativity, happiness and Italian flair of each piece to shine through the design. We believe jewellery is for everyday and all occasions. A special piece of jewellery has the power to transform a look and the mood of the wearer, and our jewellery is created with every woman of every age in mind.
 
Connecting with our customer is important to us. With a personable and approachable customer service and social platforms, we bring the customer into our story, so we can be a part of theirs. We encourage our customers to use the hashtag #SoruJewellery so everyone in our community can feel inspired and included. Please follow us on Instagram for style tips, updates, behind-the-scenes fun and exclusive sales.
 
Every single piece at Soru is designed by Francesca and Marianna. Our team is like a family and ensuring the happiness and wellbeing of our employees is at the forefront of our business.
 
We realise the importance of sustainable and ethical production, which is why we choose to produce small batches of items as opposed to mass produce. Each piece is handmade by small family-run businesses in Italy and Turkey with fair pay and good working conditions. We put a lot of love and work into every piece, so it takes time to create each one and that's why wait times for things to come back in stock may sometimes be longer. We believe that this make each piece feel special and we encourage our customers to only buy items that spark joy to reduce returns.
We have also partnered with Cadeaux Paperworks to offer sustainable gift wrap and eco tape, both of which are ethically made and fully recyclable.

Our Story

Where it all began...

We grew up near Birmingham, the second city of England, to an English mother and a Sicilian father. Each summer, we would stay with our nonna in Palermo, the bustling capital city of Sicily, where we’d be with our father’s incredibly large family (we have 11 uncles and aunties!)

The stark contrast between our lives in Birmingham and our holidays in Sicily left a great impression on us, particularly the women we were surrounded by, all of them strong, passionate and always draped in plentiful bijoux jewellery. We take inspiration from those women, those memories and our love for Sicily itself. This, coupled with the dedication and hard work ethic from the women on our mother’s side, was the perfect recipe for Soru.

During our early adult years, we worked together on the shop floor of Selfridges, dealing with customers face-to-face and completing styling requests. Francesca moved into jewellery buying for the European division of Claires Accessories for 5 years, while Marianna worked towards her photography qualification.

Where it all began...

We grew up near Birmingham, the second city of England, to an English mother and a Sicilian father. Each summer, we would stay with our nonna in Palermo, the bustling capital city of Sicily, where we’d be with our father’s incredibly large family (we have 11 uncles and aunties!)

The stark contrast between our lives in Birmingham and our holidays in Sicily left a great impression on us, particularly the women we were surrounded by, all of them strong, passionate and always draped in plentiful bijoux jewellery. We take inspiration from those women, those memories and our love for Sicily itself. This, coupled with the dedication and hard work ethic from the women on our mother’s side, was the perfect recipe for Soru.

During our early adult years, we worked together on the shop floor of Selfridges, dealing with customers face-to-face and completing sling requests. Francesca moved into jewellery buying for the European division of Claires Accessories for 5 years, while Marianna worked towards her photography qualification.

 

Where it all began...

We grew up near Birmingham, the second city of England, to an English mother and a Sicilian father. Each summer, we would stay with our nonna in Palermo, the bustling capital city of Sicily, where we’d be with our father’s incredibly large family (we have 11 uncles and aunties!)

The stark contrast between our lives in Birmingham and our holidays in Sicily left a great impression on us, particularly the women we were surrounded by, all of them strong, passionate and always draped in plentiful bijoux jewellery. We take inspiration from those women, those memories and our love for Sicily itself. This, coupled with the dedication and hard work ethic from the women on our mother’s side, was the perfect recipe for Soru.

During our early adult years, we worked together on the shop floor of Selfridges, dealing with customers face-to-face and completing sling requests. Francesca moved into jewellery buying for the European division of Claires Accessories for 5 years, while Marianna worked towards her photography qualification.

Soru is born!

In 2013, we both had small children and had recently left our careers to become full-time mothers. During this time, we had a go at creating our own jewellery, something we had always dreamed of.

We set ourselves the goal that if things did not work out by the time our children had begun school, we would give up and find alternative jobs... but, if on the other hand it did work out, we could create a career around our own working hours, doing what we loved as well as being there for our children…

We started with £6000 borrowed from our husbands, who were sure they would never see it again, and used this money to create our jewellery, which left us with no money for branding, marketing, website - anything. We ended up using a free font found on Google for our brand logo and set the entire website up ourselves, just from following YouTube tutorials every night after the kids had gone to sleep.

We set up an Instagram and Facebook, neither of which we had much experience with, and we learned slowly how to build the brand. Fortunately, we started at a time when Instagram was just emerging as a great tool for business, and we were lucky that it was not yet saturated with brands all fighting for attention. We started to build and amazing community and met likeminded people, with which we are still friends with to this day.

Soru is born!

In 2013, we both had small children and had recently left our careers to become full-time mothers. During this time, we had a go at creating our own jewellery, something we had always dreamed of.

We set ourselves the goal that if things did not work out by the time our children had begun school, we would give up and find alternative jobs...but, if on the other hand it did work out, we could create a career around our own working hours, doing what we loved as well as being there for our children…

We started with £6000 borrowed from our husbands, who were sure they would never see it again, and used this money to create our jewellery, which left us with no money for branding, marketing, website - anything. We ended up using a free font found on Google for our brand logo and set the entire website up ourselves, just from following YouTube tutorials every night after the kids had gone to sleep.

We set up an Instagram and Facebook, neither of which we had much experience with, and we learned slowly how to build the brand. Fortunately, we started at a time when Instagram was just emerging as a great tool for business, and we were lucky that it was not yet saturated with brands all fighting for attention. We started to build and amazing community and met likeminded people, with which we are still friends with to this day.

 

Soru is born!

In 2013, we both had small children and had recently left our careers to become full-time mothers. During this time, we had a go at creating our own jewellery, something we had always dreamed of.

We set ourselves the goal that if things did not work out by the time our children had begun school, we would give up and find alternative jobs...but, if on the other hand it did work out, we could create a career around our own working hours, doing what we loved as well as being there for our children…

We started with £6000 borrowed from our husbands, who were sure they would never see it again, and used this money to create our jewellery, which left us with no money for branding, marketing, website - anything. We ended up using a free font found on Google for our brand logo and set the entire website up ourselves, just from following YouTube tutorials every night after the kids had gone to sleep.

We set up an Instagram and Facebook, neither of which we had much experience with, and we learned slowly how to build the brand. Fortunately, we started at a time when Instagram was just emerging as a great tool for business, and we were lucky that it was not yet saturated with brands all fighting for attention. We started to build and amazing community and met likeminded people, with which we are still friends with to this day.

Soru today...

Through this community, our brand started to slowly grow. Within 3 months, we were able to pay our husbands back. After 3 years of working from home, where we’d be wrapping up orders while watching evening TV, we moved into our office. 5 years later, we ditched the free font and had a beautiful new logo designed for us.

Today, we are still very much hands on. Our team still consists of the two of us, with some friends helping us answer customer service emails and package orders. Our children have now started school, and we still have Soru. It all worked out! But our story doesn't end here, there's so much on the horizon for Soru that we cannot wait to share with you all!

The reaction we've had to our products has been overwhelming and incredibly moving. We're so happy our customers feel a connection with the brand and our jewellery. We love what we put out and work hard to make sure each collection is designed with passion and excitement, so seeing that reflected back from our customers is wonderful. We honestly do love seeing how our customers wear Soru, and encourage everyone to tag us on Instagram @sorujewellery and use #SoruJewellery so we can see how you wear our products!

If you'd like to get to know us more, here's a journal entry where we both interviewed each other. You can also watch our feature on the SheerLuxe Show with Laura Wills of The Fashion Bug Blog here.

Soru today...

Through this community, our brand started to slowly grow. Within 3 months, we were able to pay our husbands back. After 3 years of working from home, where we’d be wrapping up orders while watching evening TV, we moved into our office. 5 years later, we ditched the free font and had a beautiful new logo designed for us.

Today, we are still very much hands on. Our team still consists of the two of us, with some friends helping us answer customer service emails and package orders. Our children have now started school, and we still have Soru. It all worked out! But our story doesn't end here, there's so much on the horizon for Soru that we cannot wait to share with you all!

The reaction we've had to our products has been overwhelming and incredibly moving. We're so happy our customers feel a connection with the brand and our jewellery. We love what we put out and work hard to make sure each collection is designed with passion and excitement, so seeing that reflected back from our customers is wonderful. We honestly do love seeing how our customers wear Soru, and encourage everyone to tag us on Instagram @sorujewellery and use #SoruJewellery so we can see how you wear our products!

If you'd like to get to know us more, here's a journal entry where we both interviewed each other. You can also watch our feature on the SheerLuxe Show with Laura Wills of The Fashion Bug Blog here.

 

Soru today...

Through this community, our brand started to slowly grow. Within 3 months, we were able to pay our husbands back. After 3 years of working from home, where we’d be wrapping up orders while watching evening TV, we moved into our office. 5 years later, we ditched the free font and had a beautiful new logo designed for us.

Today, we are still very much hands on. Our team still consists of the two of us, with some friends helping us answer customer service emails and package orders. Our children have now started school, and we still have Soru. It all worked out! But our story doesn't end here, there's so much on the horizon for Soru that we cannot wait to share with you all!

The reaction we've had to our products has been overwhelming and incredibly moving. We're so happy our customers feel a connection with the brand and our jewellery. We love what we put out and work hard to make sure each collection is designed with passion and excitement, so seeing that reflected back from our customers is wonderful. We honestly do love seeing how our customers wear Soru, and encourage everyone to tag us on Instagram @sorujewellery and use #SoruJewellery so we can see how you wear our products!

If you'd like to get to know us more, here's a journal entry where we both interviewed each other. You can also watch our feature on the SheerLuxe Show with Laura Wills of The Fashion Bug Blog here.