Behind the Scenes: Viviana Langhoff

Olivia Shih: You were born in Puerto Rico, grew up in Florida, then you traveled to Chicago to study fashion apparel design at SAIC. How did you find your way to jewelry?
Viviana Langhoff: I went into SAIC (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) for fashion and quickly figured out I didn’t have an aptitude for sewing. Eventually, I ended up doing large-scale furniture welding and really enjoyed it. Then somebody was like, “You should try small metals and accessories.” And SAIC, even though they’re one of the top three art schools, does not teach or believe in craft. I think that’s their biggest shortfall. They teach you how to think. They’re fantastic at theory. Critiquing and sharpening your ideas? Ten out of ten. Everyone at that school is super brilliant. But the craft skill level was just abysmal.

So I went to Columbia College, which is also in Chicago. They had a small metals department headed up by Darlys Ewoldt and Lynn Floriano. I took a slew of classes there and transferred the credits over [to SAIC]. And I took to metal. I loved metalsmithing. I ended up staying in the studio for hours until they kicked me out. And that’s when you know.


How did you pick up your fine jewelry design and fabrication skills?
When I graduated, I literally printed out a résumé and walked around to jewelry stores. That’s how I got my first job managing a jewelry store for an independent designer. She was an emotionally unhealthy person, and I learned what not to do in business.

But I did learn about her process—she sketched designs and had everything made by a local manufacturer. I found out about [suppliers like] Stuller and Herco, too. I struggled with the idea of not making [my own] jewelry for a bit because in the art jewelry world, if you didn’t make it then it’s not authentic. But the reality of scaling [your business] and sustaining yourself is to recognize that everyone works with expert stone-setters, casters, and engravers. You have to know when to release your work and collaborate.

While I was working for this woman, I was also apprenticing on Jewelers’ Row with an amazing third-generation Jewish family. They actually sat down and taught me goldsmithing techniques and gemology, which was invaluable.


What did your job as store manager entail? Did your employer teach you how to run the store?
No, she didn’t teach me anything. Some people are not natural teachers or mentors. The reality was that she had a thriving business years ago but there was no longer a demand for her designs, and she wasn’t cultivating any new, fresh ideas. We barely had clients, so my day-to-day was just maintaining a quiet, inactive store. My boss would come in constantly worried and had a hard time regulating her emotions. Lack of mental health and maturity is something I see with a lot of business owners. Many people choose to start a business because they have a talent or a product but fail to recognize that to succeed in business you need to bring your whole self (mentally, spiritually, and emotionally). Talent can only take you so far if you are emotionally unhealthy.


Viviana Langhoff: Wanderlust Ring, 2023. 14k yellow gold, elongated hexagon salt and pepper diamond, white and black diamond accents. 11 x 4 mm.
Photo: Meagan Shuptar @meaganshuptar


What other kinds of jobs have you held since?
Girl, I held signs at the airport for limousines. I was a lunch lady. I was a church receptionist. What haven’t I done? I also managed Pistachios [Contemporary Art Jewelry]. I started as a part-time salesperson there and did custom jewelry on my own. My personal clients were mainly church folk, mainly younger couples with limited resources. My average custom ring price at that time was $800 to $1000, and my profit was maybe half of that. The profit I did make went straight to student loans, bills, or back into the business. My business was growing but at a very slow pace.

I had a lot of practice doing custom jewelry, but I never made enough money to build a collection. Even a robust collection in silver costs several thousand dollars. When I graduated [from SAIC], my former husband and I had over $130,000 worth of debt. Our combined income was $38,000 a year, so our number one focus was to get out of student loan debt. We knew we wouldn’t have any momentum in life unless we killed the debt.


How long were you working at Pistachios? What was that experience like?
Probably five, six years. The [founder], Yann Woolley, was a wonderful mentor. I have such a love for her. She was very disciplined and set up systems, such as standards of work (conduct and store procedures). She might not have had warm camaraderie with everyone, but we had respect for each other.

I learned that leadership sets the tone. If you see a team that’s catty, chaotic, or disorderly, all you have to do is look at the leader. Yann was a steady leader and never let you see her sweat, even when sales were down. She also had a good sense of her customers and what they wanted. At the time, Pistachios carried a lot of Polish and other Eastern European designers. I was always pushing Yann to pick up more BIPOC or Latino designers but she stuck with the design aesthetic of Eastern European and white American artists. We sold so much stuff. She was excellent at sales.

Viviana Langhoff: Element 5 Ring and Element 6 Ring, 2025. 14k yellow gold. Element 5: 4 mm wide. Element 6: 10 mm wide.
Photo: Meagan Shuptar @meaganshuptar


What was her sales strategy?
I think that there’s something about being comfortable in your skin and playing to your strengths. Yann was great at small talk. If a sale took longer, she didn’t pressure the customer. She would take the conversion in different directions. Where are you from? How did you find us? Tell me more about your dog! She was sincerely curious about the other person.

I truly believe in being kind and unpretentious. Customers are discerning and can pick up on your energy and know if you’re being sincere. One of my strategies is I don’t lie to people. I look at a customer’s face, and if they get really quiet, I say, “You don’t like that. Let’s take it off and try something else.” I really affirm how people feel. People purchase from those they trust and can feel comfortable with.

Another sales tip is that customers purchase from people who are stylish. The average customer might not have a sense of how to accessorize jewelry (especially art jewelry) or integrate it into their everyday life. When you present yourself well, customers think, “Okay, I trust your opinion.”


You opened Adornment + Theory in the Logan Square neighborhood in Chicago in 2017. How did you learn how to prepare for and then run your business?
I’ve always wanted to open up my own store, even when I was little. My father is a business owner, and so is my brother, so we’re a family of entrepreneurs. I go to them for feedback (and unsolicited advice), and I also ingest a ton of podcasts and business books.

Right after college, I did extreme budgeting. When you don’t have a lot, you have to be disciplined and live within your means. I operated on a cash basis for ten years, never had a credit card. I’d go to the grocery store and do my shopping with money in a little envelope. If you’re not personally good with finances, you are going to be on your back foot by the time you open a store. Eventually, in order to scale your business, you’ll need a banker and you’ll need to learn to manage lines of credit. Based on conversations I’ve had with other store owners, if you start your business in debt you’re going to be stressed.

I also learned bookkeeping from a CPA as one of my part-time jobs. I was taught to enter bills, categorize transactions, and make sure reports were correct. If bookkeeping isn’t your thing, it’s worth it to hire a bookkeeper, who would be $40 to $60 an hour. If you don’t know your numbers, you don’t know your business. And you need to learn how to read profit and loss statements and balance sheets. Those two reports are really important.

I asked my brother who had an MBA if I should go to grad school for business before opening my store, and he said, “Absolutely not. Waste of money.” Instead, he pointed me to books. He recommended The E-Myth by Michael Gerber and Financial Intelligence [by Karen Berman and Joe Knight].

A lot of artists think they can’t possibly run a business, but it can be creative. It’s problem-solving, and I think artists could be some of the best business folk because they’re incredibly resourceful.


What kind of business advice did your father give you?
My father taught me early on that the word “business” in Spanish is negocios, which means “negotiations.” When I opened my store and had barely any money, I asked my father, “How do I get things done with the contractors?” He said, “Negotiating is your job now. You negotiate. You talk and you build relationships.” There were months when I couldn’t pay a bill, so I’d call the creditor and say, “Hey, we had an emergency, and it’s tight this month. I’m going to pay this much right now and the rest later.” And I’d honor my word because that’s what I do.


Viviana Langhoff: AU79 Collection Rings, 2025. 14k yellow gold, lab-grown diamonds. Varied dimensions.
Photo: Meagan Shuptar @meaganshuptar


What forms of support did you receive from your community when building your business?
My family and friends were emotionally and spiritually supportive. They were in my corner. But what’s also important is having truth-tellers in your life. Trusted individuals who give you feedback, critique, and encouragement. If you want to be an entrepreneur long-term you will need to learn to build emotional tolerance, manage stress, and have some insane optimism.


How did you get the funds to start your business? Do you have a ballpark of how much it cost in the beginning?
My former husband and I had purchased a house that needed a lot of work. We took advantage of a loan program where you only put 3 percent down, and we turned the house into an income property. So we lived in it and rented to tenants. We took some equity from the house to open the store. It was $25,000, and my family gave me $10,000, so I opened the store with $35,000.

Almost all of the money went to the deposit, which was two months of rent, a new floor, the displays, and fixtures. I only had enough money left to make five of my own pieces. Most of the jewelry in the store was on consignment. It was very sparse, so I intentionally merchandised the store to look like a gallery—clean and minimal. And I did our grand opening as soon as humanly possible to bring in income. When I opened I had less than $1,000 in the bank. So yeah, by the skin of our teeth.


That took a lot of guts! As a store owner, jewelry designer, and creative professional, how many streams of income do you have?
At the store, custom jewelry is our strongest, and 75 percent of revenue is custom. The rest is from retail jewelry that is ready to sell. And I have income properties, so that helps supplement my income.


You’re someone who has a strong creative vision—why did you decide not to name your store after yourself?
When I started, I didn’t have a following. Nobody knew who I was or what my jewelry style was. Even though I had been making jewelry for ten years, to pay my bills I was designing whatever the customer wanted.

During the years I worked at Pistachios, I was selling other artists’ work and knew I was fucking good at it. You can gas up your friend’s work much better than you can sell your own. For my store, I knew that it was going to be a gallery model where I represented other designers and myself. I wasn’t confident in my style back then, and it took me two years to really establish my voice. I had to keep making, designing, and tinkering.


Has the jewelry you carry at Adornment + Theory changed over the years?
It used to be mostly art jewelry, but now we carry more independent fine jewelers. And very functional, wearable jewelry. In the art jewelry world we carry Alicia Goodwin (Lingua Nigra), Georgina Treviño, Lorraine West, Jenni Dowie (Miarante), and more.


Adornment + Theory interior, 2026.
Photos: Gabriela Chavez


How did you figure out who the clientele is for Adornment + Theory?
I love interior design, so I designed our store. I paid attention to every detail when designing the store, from scent, to lighting, and even music. We tend to attract women who are confident, self purchasers who favor edgy or design forward jewelry. We have customers who are doctors or who work for government institutions like the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). They want to support women-owned businesses and BIPOC designers.

When I left Pistachios, I knew I wanted to carry as many BIPOC designers as possible. But it was really difficult to find us. Before 2020, not a lot of minority designers used BIPOC identity markers in marketing.


Speaking of gaining visibility, you’ve been featured in publications like Oprah Daily, National Jeweler, JCK. You’ve also been a podcast guest on Perceived Value, Rough Cut, and For the Love of Jewelers. How did you land those opportunities?
I’m just going to riff ... If you take yourself seriously, other people will too. When I threw the gauntlet down of opening a store, nobody knew who I was. Being hungry made me fearless and I had to shout from the rooftops that I was here! Because failure is not an option for me. My then husband and my entire livelihood were on the line. Before the store, you couldn’t find me online. I wasn’t on social media much. But all of a sudden I had a store to market, and I’m not just representing myself, but all these other artists who took a chance on me. I had to get over myself and my fear and start creating content.

With Perceived Value, SNAG was coming to Chicago for the conference in 2018, and I had a chip on my shoulder about the lack of diversity in the art jewelry and fine jewelry space. SNAG organizers didn’t reach out to me even though they knew about me and my store. They had again selected white designers and storeowners to celebrate their fiftieth anniversary. So I asked myself, “How do I want to meaningfully participate in this? Do we even belong in this art jewelry space?” So I came up with the idea of sponsoring Sarah Rachel Brown, creator of the Perceived Values podcast, to fly to Chicago during the conference and host a great discussion about the lack of diversity in our field. In the store, we curated an art jewelry show of work by BIPOC art jewelers. The team behind the show—from the curator, to the photographer, to the preparator—were all women of color. The show was called Under Exposed, and Adia Sykes co-curated with me. I was very proud of what we created.

We received a lot of local press because I actively reached out to publications like Time Out and Block Club Chicago whenever we had events. And when the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement hit and everybody allocated funds to DEI programs, we were in the right place at the right time. Publications and podcasts reached out to me because we had the reputation of doing the work and valuing diversity. When people wanted to shop at a local BIPOC store, they came to us. Our values weren’t a trend; they were foundational to the business. And we gained followers on social media. We didn’t have to get ready, we were ready.


Do you have any marketing tips for emerging jewelry designers and makers?
Have gorgeous photos of your work. Take photos at all angles and on a model because people want to know the scale of the jewelry. Invest in the photos because people need to be able to interpret what’s happening. Also, be crystal clear in your bio or artist statement. You have to know who you’re speaking to. A lot of artists don’t know who their customer is. If it’s hard to pin down the feeling or energy of your work, ask a friend you respect to describe it.

Finally, build an email list. And be consistent with email marketing. The email list is the only marketing channel you control because Instagram can go down. TikTok can be taken away. The algorithm might change and not be in your favor. And when it comes to social media, don’t get tripped up by follower numbers. I have friends who have 50,000 or 100,000 followers, but they’re not making the revenue I am. Our follower count has been frozen at 13,000 for five years, but we’re a seven-figure business. Concentrate on doing good business and leading with your values—and let go of chasing after followers.


What plans do you have for the near future?
We just hit our biggest milestone as a business—we bought a building and opened our new store in April. It’s located in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood at 1433 W. Chicago Avenue. If you are in Chicago, stop by! We would love to welcome you into our home and adorn you in art.

Thank you for the enlightening interview!
 

About the Interviewee

Viviana Langhoff is a multi-hyphenate creative, serving as both a fine jewelry designer and the proud owner of Adornment & Theory jewelry store in Chicago. Her artistic journey is deeply rooted in the concept of heirloom. She believes that history is not just passed down but can be intimately traced through objects that hold personal narratives. For Viviana, jewelry embodies this notion impeccably; it serves as a timeless conduit for stories, a sentiment she translates into every piece she designs. Her passion for crafting beautiful, meaningful jewelry that resonates with people on a daily basis has been a driving force throughout her career.
Having honed her skills in conceptual design at Chicago’s prestigious The School of the Art Institute (SAIC), Viviana further refined her craft through studies in metalsmithing at Columbia College. Immersed in both the realms of fine jewelry and contemporary art jewelry, she gained invaluable experience working alongside skilled artisans.

Viviana Langhoff, 2022 | Photo: Melody Joy @melodyjoyco
 

About the author

Olivia Shih (she/her) is a jeweler, artist, and writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Born to Taiwanese immigrant parents in the USA, she grew up on the subtropical island and is interested in cultural nuances and family dynamics. In addition to running her jewelry studio, Olivia teaches at the California College of the Arts and works as the assistant editor at Metalsmith.

Instagram: @oliviashihdesigns