Beth Hutchens: Co-Founder + Creative Director Of FoundRae

Beth Hutchens of FoundRae has been an entrepreneur her entire adult life. The ritual of collection and the importance of quality seen in the fine jewelry and home décor brand was what she grew up with in her Quaker home, rich with stories and heritage that Beth says “feels alive and present” in her everyday life today. It all started when she and her Cynthia Rowley friend and co-worker, Rebecca Taylor, began making clothes. Rebecca wanted to start her own line, and Beth wanted to create clothes to wear out on the town in New York City’s nightclub scene. It was in 1996 when the pair were propelled to join forces to co-found what would become the wildly popular contemporary collection, Rebecca Taylor, where Beth was CEO until she followed a whisper to return more closely to her creative roots. The FoundRae collection was born in 2015, and has gone on to win CFDA and GEM awards, and develop a loyal fan and customer following, due in part to its incredibly distinct, stand-out brand identity in a sea of many, and its covet-worthy pieces that beg to be collected and layered. On episode 105, Beth shares her family’s fascinating artistic story and how it’s influenced her as a maker. We discuss her creative life in New York before taking the plunge into entrepreneurship and business, helping to establish the Rebecca Taylor brand and build the FoundRae brand. She shares what she’s learned about working with creatives, how to hire, how to be best at branding, the details of her own creative process, the art of collaging, how she thinks about design, and the marked differences between the fashion and jewelry industries. We talk about FoundRae’s one-of-a-kind flagship store and store experience, and the brand’s customer. We discuss the impact that attention to detail can create, copycatting and intellectual property, being a jack of trades and more. Shop the podcast:FoundRae.com Synchronicity by Carl Jungfollow @storyandraintalks on instagram for our very latest drops + more pod content HERE | follow @storyandrain magazine on instagram HERE | follow our host + founder @tamarararappa HERE | discover, read, shop: fashion, beauty, wellness, tv + film, food, travel, interviews, + more on storyandrain.com