MJ Carlson & Chantel Poynton of Electric Picks
A bracelet design came to MJ Carlson in a dream. She woke up and got to work recreating what she had seen: vintage guitar picks, strung together. She called upon her best friend Chantel Poynton to help, and soon after, the self-taught duo launched Electric Picks.
For their vintage line, MJ and Chantel scour vintage stores and flea markets around the world, finding and casting antique objects into metal, giving them new life. Their contemporary line draws from their core belief that jewelry holds stories, experiences, people, and spaces — living your life with you. All of their pieces are designed to be timeless, with a lifetime guarantee. Eleven years later, among the ranks of the many people wearing Electric Picks are Hailey Bieber, Barbie Ferreira, Vanessa Hudgens, Olivia Munn, and more. All Electric Picks pieces are assembled in the USA, with a metalsmith in NYC and the hand-assembly done in Hoboken.
AS GOOD AS GOLD: What’s better than jewelry with a lifetime guarantee?
NAMES: Chantel Poynton /// MJ Carlson
CITIES: Hidden Hills, CA (just outside Los Angeles) /// Hoboken, NJ
SOMETHING YOU DIDN’T EXPECT ABOUT RUNNING A BUSINESS WITH YOUR BEST FRIEND: How easy it was to embrace our strengths and yet be aware of our weaknesses. It’s an absolute blessing because ours complement each other. I knew we were great friends and enjoyed spending time together but didn’t really know how well we would work together. You hear a lot of horror stories about friendships ending and what not. I believe intuitively we just knew we would make a great team and so far, twenty collections later, it’s been an absolute dream come true. Having your best friend by your side to share in your success, because it’s hers too, is the best thing ever! /// We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary in October and throughout our entire partnership we've really been able to complement and support each other. Chantel's so incredibly talented and creative deep down in her genes and I love business and marketing. Having different strengths really allows us to complement and bring out the best in each other. And nothing's better than having your best friend to celebrate the wins with!
FAVORITE VINTAGE FIND YOU’VE CAST INTO AN ELECTRIC PICKS PIECE: The lock we used in our “Eye Of The Tiger” necklace was cast from one that was part of my collection of vintage mini padlocks I have in a large glass vase. My teenage daughter has such amazing style and is always inspiring new ideas for designs. She had asked if I could make her a necklace with a real padlock and I thought it would be extra cool to find a vintage one and have that cast into one we could use. /// Our Royal Flush coin. It's a vintage roulette token from underground gambling clubs in London in the 1800s. Finding vintage pieces that were lost and bringing their stories back to life is one of my favorite parts of what we do.
GO-TO CANDLE SCENT: I’m not a coffee drinker but I LOVE the smell of coffee. I like to buy my candles on Etsy, as it’s much easier to find clean, non-toxic ones. /// I'm not a huge candle person, but I love anything that smells like roses (though I don't actually like rose flowers, haha).
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