Mother Made: Where Craft Meets Motherhood

As Mother’s Day peeks over the horizon, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the women who made us. The guiding forces that have influenced our journeys in the most meaningful of ways, a notion that’s particularly true for a handful of our brand founders. Whether they’ve launched a cult fashion house alongside their mother, brought their daughter on board their homeware ventures, or use their platform to celebrate incredible mothers, these are stories of the brands who have made motherhood their business…

Each something of a visionary in their own right, it felt only natural for mother-daughter duo Bernadette and Charlotte de Geyter, to join creative forces, founding BERNADETTE back in 2018. This intergenerational conversation is centric to all that comes out of the Antwerp-based fashion house, where a classic elegance collides with contemporary design. Here, we speak to the pair about the beauty of familial collaboration…

What role does your relationship play in the way you work?
Bernadette: It’s very natural for us because we are a mother and a daughter and also best friends. So we constantly support each other and give each other confidence. We can speak about everything, which is extremely valuable in fashion.
Charlotte: I love that my mum can open things up a bit. She always convinces me that certain things can work in design, that certain combinations of looks can work together. She always says there’s a solution for everything; sometimes we just need a bit of time to think about it.

Purveyors of eclectic homeware that celebrates artistry and craft from all four corners of the globe, Caravane is the freshest recruit to our homeware edit, with a pop-up of their own now open on Liberty’s fourth floor. First founded by husband and wife duo, Veronique and Jack-Eric Piedeleu, it didn’t take long for their daughter, Capucine, to join the fold, injecting a fresh energy into the brand. Here, Veronique and Capucine discuss the merits of a mother-daughter working relationship...

What inspired the decision to bring Capucine on board?
Veronique: In the early days, Caravane was a niche brand with a strong identity but limited visibility. We knew we needed to elevate it. Initially, we asked Capucine to help us out for a few months on this project… and here we are, more than ten years later, still working together! She didn’t just work on the brand—she infused it with new energy, new ideas, a fresh way of seeing things. And for me, it became something even more special: not just growing a business, but passing on knowledge, sharing a passion, and building something together, as a family.

How well do you work together as a mother-daughter duo?
Veronique: It’s not easy every day, of course! We both have very strong personalities, and that means we don’t always agree. But in a way, that’s exactly what makes it work—we challenge each other, we fight for our ideas, and we push ourselves to go further.

What have you learned from each other since working together?
Véronique: More than anything, I’ve learned the beauty of sharing something so deeply meaningful with my daughter. Capucine has this incredible sensitivity—she sees things in a way that I don’t always, and she brings a different emotion, a different light to Caravane. But beyond Caravane, what I cherish the most is the support we give each other. Capucine: I’ve learned almost everything from my mom, and that’s something I’ll always be incredibly proud and grateful for. Honestly, the list is so long—I wouldn’t even know where to start… it’s everything! Ahah. But beyond the work itself, she’s also shown me what it means to build something with passion and perseverance. She taught me how to work hard, to be demanding, but also to trust my instincts and stand by my ideas. Working alongside her has been the best school I could have asked for.

Unfulfilled in her career in marketing, it was in 2012 that Marla Aaron – then an advertising exec – climbed down the corporate ladder to launch a passion project that would go on to become a mammoth success: an eponymous jewellery line inspired by the underrated treasures of the humble hardware store. While her cult following spans style seekers of all demographics, she has a special place in her heart for single mothers, epitomised by her annual project – #LockYourMom – through which anyone can nominate an incredible single mother in their life, to be gifted a special Marla Aaron lock of their own. Here, Marla shares why her own journey of motherhood has been so instrumental in the creation of her brand…

What first inspired you to launch the brand?
I always wanted to make things. Even when I was working in marketing and advertising I was making jewellery, studying jewellery, obsessing about jewellery. It was my passion. I am specifically obsessed with mechanisms of any kind and their beauty. I couldn’t stop thinking about: incorporating functional hardware like carabiners into jewellery that would convert in interesting ways with one's own jewellery. Once I realised that we could morph the shape of the Lock itself, it opened an entire world to me.

In what way is motherhood intrinsic to your brand mission?
“Jewellery’s only job is to give joy to people" are the words our company lives by. I cannot think of anyone more deserving of a little extra joy than a mother. Because of the Locks that we give away for #lockyourmom—engraved with an “!” for the “!!!” of motherhood—we have come to be known as a company that’s “big” on Mother’s Day. But our jewellery, and the mums who wear it, are really a year-round thing. Since the very beginning, our collection has been something women—sometimes mothers, sometimes not—have bought for themselves. They don’t need a special occasion to buy a Babylock or a custom hand-engraved DiMe Bracelet. When I first started the collection, my 14-year-old son was my focus group. He got me on Instagram. Being a mother is everything. Mums are everything.”