When Esther Vedder was growing up in the Netherlands, it wasn’t sports or television that dominated her after-school schedule. When she was eight she spent weekday evenings sorting out pearls and beads to make jewelry with her grandmother, mother, and identical twin sister Anne.
“It’s a little family thing,” says Vedder, now 27 years old.
She considered jewelry making as her passion project, imagining that she’d become a doctor when she was older. Instead, she and Anne went on to study communications at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. (Yes, they were in all of the same classes—“We did everything together,” Vedder laughs.) It wasn’t until after they graduated—when they received gold necklaces as gifts from their parents—that their lifelong hobby sparked a business plan.
As beautiful as these necklaces were, they were “missing something personal, like handwriting,” says Vedder.
In their subsequent search for personalized jewelry, the twins came up empty-handed. That’s when they realized they had to build their own brand, Vedder&Vedder, which launched last October. The company, based out of Amsterdam’s WeWork Metropool office space, specializes in silver and gold-plated necklaces and bracelets that include your own handwriting, or a loved one’s handwriting, in the design.
Though the sisters share quite a lot—the same Instagram account and LinkedIn pages, for example—Esther brings more to the creative table, whereas Anne’s got the business chops.
“When we started, we thought because we are twins, we are exactly the same and we had the same skills,” says Vedder. “But when we were working, we noticed that Anne is more business-minded, and I’m more creative-minded. She was all about the money—and I am not at all into that—and paying bills, and managing everything. I was very into the social media, creating new jewelry collections, and things like that. We separated it, and she’s doing all the business stuff and I’m creating collections and doing the social media.”
At the moment, Vedder&Vedder jewelry is only available online. But come late October, just one year after their launch, their jewelry will be sold in stores throughout Europe. The plan after that is to move into the U.S. market.
“Our dream is to sell in New York,” says Vedder. “That’s our vision.”
And by having each other as steadfast confidantes and business partners, it’s likely they’ll hit their next goal.
“It’s a plus that we’re twins because sometimes when I’m not focused, my sister is saying, ‘Esther, you have to work! You have to work! Get up now!’” she laughs. “And we go and work all night long because we have to do a lot. We keep each other focused.”
Photos: Afagh Morrowatian