Pyrrha is an enduring B-corp loved by celebrities.
When Danielle and Wade Papin first introduced their wax seal-inspired talismans to jewelry stores, they were told that no one would want something that looked old.
The husband and wife duo had been creating jewelry since 1995. They started out of their home playing with seasonal collections, like brightly colored glass, geometric patterns and even wood; the seals were just meant to be another one of their collections.
Turns out the store owners got it wrong.
Pyrrha, as she is known today, nearly two decades later, has an archive of hundreds of talismans, and their distressed solid silver is instantly recognizable on the other side of the coin.
When first designing the seals, Danielle and Wade researched antique images, but after a while they wanted to invent their own. “We’re never going to create a baseball talisman,” says Danielle, explaining that designs should be realistic to what you might find throughout history. But, she adds, there are so many possibilities in “this heraldic area.”
The duo begins by asking, “What kind of inspiration do people need in their lives?”
Depending on the answer, the images change, each with its own distinct meaning, and the main inspiration remains the same. When the COVID restrictions eased, they developed the theme “struggle and emerge”.
Why move to LA if Vancouver is home?
Pyrrha’s flagship store is in Los Angeles and many of the city’s famous locals are big fans.
Jennifer Lawrence, Brad Pitt and Taylor Swift all own Pyrrha plays and HBO approached Pyrrha to make a game of thrones collection in 2014.
Last month, Patti Smith wore her new “Music Unites Us” talisman on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, whose sales benefit the Pathway to Paris association. “The music community is very responsive,” jokes Wade.
“We had such great support [in Vancouver] already,” says Danielle of their decision to add operations in Los Angeles. However, all jewelry is made in Vancouver, they have a showroom available by appointment, and many local stores like Blue Ruby stock Pyrrha.
Vancouver will always be home
In 2009 the Papins bought a heritage home in Mount Pleasant and although they had worked it as is for a while, they needed more space to grow. They chose to keep the house and expand around it because they wanted a permanent home somewhere that felt like part of a neighborhood.
The facade of the house is the same, but no one can guess that it is actually a gateway to a world-class sustainable facility. The house is connected to a laminated wood tower by a courtyard and the entire property is carbon zero certified by the Canada Green Building Council and all manufacturing is done in-house. It has photochromatic windows in the tower that help regulate heat and the courtyard encourages biodiversity with special holes in the concrete for birds and insects to take up residence.
The company as a whole is carbon neutral, a B-corp and certified by a host of other industry-specific organisations, but both are also aware of all the greenwashing in their industry.
“It’s kind of like when you’re the person who doesn’t lie on their resume, but everyone else does,” Wade says. “We tell it like it is.”
“People don’t really understand how jewelry is made,” adds Danielle. It’s a rigorous process from start to finish and while they’re by no means running a factory, the rampant aestheticization of different industries drives it crazy. “People don’t have a realistic idea of how much something costs or how it’s made,” she says.
