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Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox is a gift to intellectual artistry and you’ll see why. She puts her skills in problem solving and design and pours them into jewelry-making. We are honored she is a member of Pow.wow.

Amanda is partner in a three women design firm named RedStart Design, LLC. Here, they have designed and currently produce three lines of jewelry. They have attended unique festivals, taught jewelry-making at Stanford and in Italy, take on a variety of commissions, and have worked with Fossil to design jewelry lines for Emporio Armani and Burberry. These women find that enjoying their work is a major priority for them. Red Start strives to make affordable well designed jewelry for the discerning buyer.

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Welcome Amanda. What is your background?
I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I moved out to California for college and went to Stanford and received a bachelor’s in Art History (’98) and a master’s in Religious Studies (’99). After that I moved to Italy to learn metalworking techniques and live in Florence until beginning my Masters in Fine Arts in Design (also Stanford). Upon graduating I started RedStart with two women I met while in grad school. Since then I have been working full time with RedStart, teaching one course a year at Stanford, as well as teaching a summer course in Florence. Originally, what gave you the entrepreneurial motivation? I think once I knew I was going to be a designer/artist I knew that I would have to bring an entrepreneurial aspect to it. My mother is an artist, a painter, but she works alone and her outreach is small. I really enjoy working with people and hearing their ideas and influences. Once I found two people who were willing to take the leap to starting a small business I needed no more motivation.

Tell me, what was the specific defining moment that led you to start your painting business?
My now colleague Sara posed a scenario while we were in school. She and I had been talking about starting something, but she had worked out a project where as a company we would sponsor some research at Stanford in a new area. I remember thinking here is a woman who has an advanced degree in engineering and she is willing to walk away from the lure of where that could take her and try her hand at starting a company. Her confidence in our work was a strong catalyst for the forming of RedStart.

Where does your inspiration come from?
Our design inspirations often come from nature, and sometimes its harder to place exactly where they come from. The motivation to make our business a success comes from the tremendous amount of support we have had from family and friends. Our clients’ excitement is extremely affirming, too. We love it when the finished project clearly makes them happy.

The biggest professional reward for you would be what?
When one of our rings was selected to be in an exhibit at New York’s Museum of Modern Art we thought that was the biggest reward we could imagine. Since then, we have been striving to become a company that is recognized for and associated with high quality work.

What is the toughest challenge for you?
We find that we are at a loss when it comes to really knowing our market.

How do you get new business?
For now, word of mouth has been great for our commission work. We have had a steady stream of clients since we began, usually about 15 projects running at a time. We rely on press for the selling of our collections, we have not yet ventured into advertising, but it is a possibility.

What is the one piece of advice you would give someone just starting out?
Do not start a company alone. For me it was crucial to have sometime to work with, not for. A partnership is more my style. I wanted to feel like we were a team working for the good of RedStart, not a team realizing one designer’s vision. That said, we found it extremely valuable to make our operating agreement for our company early on. We thought we knew what each others’ expectations were, but setting up the structure of the company brought a lot of information to the table that was unknown and extremely important.

What is the next step for you and the women of Red Start?
We would like to expand the number of stores that carry our collections. We would also like to trim our client projects to a smaller number to allow for more internal developments. I have had a strong desire to get our electromechanical jewelry research moving again, but thus far we have lacked the time and funds.

Thank you for your thoughts & showing us a glimpse of your world!

Look her up, you won’t be disappointed!
Amanda Knox at RedStart Design
www.redstartdesign.com