Meet Connie Hung | Founder & Creative Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Connie Hung and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Connie, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Prior to starting Costanté – I was completely removed from the creative field, but I knew I wanted my work to make an impact. For me, impact meant being able to work in space where I could provide a platform to uplift others and give back to the world. While working in Finance, I’d want to direct the charitable efforts of our company to create a more direct impact, but was frequently hindered due to “corporate politics” or things of that nature.

Luckily, I was simultaneously volunteering for Sexy Beast – a creative non-profit who directed all of their efforts to supporting Planned Parenthood Los Angeles. One of the program directors, Tera, taught me that impact doesn’t have to look one way or another. You can create your own avenue of change using your own skills and do it in your own way.

In October 2018, I had the opportunity to soft launch Costanté at Sexy Beast’s Benefit Gala for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles at Marciano Art Foundation. That evening, we sold through 80% of the inventory we displayed and were able to donate nearly $1000 to Planned Parenthood Los Angeles!!

It was from that moment on, I knew that’s the kind of impact I’d like to continue to make through Costanté – a brand that operates with love + intention, a place to show gratitude to the communities who taught us + uplifted us, and using that money earned to give back to the communities we want to contribute to.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I like to believe Costanté is different than other fine jewelry brands because we are not the typical luxury jewelry brand catering to the wealthy, but instead to your regular everyday human beings.

At the start of the pandemic, we knew it was time to take a pause, focus on what’s most important, and serve the intended purpose of Costanté. We allocated a huge chunk of our budget to purchase custom face shields from a local 3D printing company, Cokreeate, for the healthcare workers facing PPE shortage at the time. We personally delivered them to their door and had the opportunity to personally meet the community that supports us and show them a small token of our appreciation.

We like to cater our business for the conscious consumers who want to feel good about their purchase and do it within their means. Custom fine jewelry is frequently intimidating because of the price point, but we like to work towards the client’s budgets instead of our own. This allows a cycle of gratitude – the consumers feel good about their purchase knowing that their purchase made a direct impact to our small business. As a small business, every order and every single display of support allows us to not only survive, but also grow. From each order, we are able to translate the profits into donations for other communities we want to support.

Understandably, fine jewelry is typically seen to be reserved for the wealthy because of it’s price. What we’ve seen (and the moments we are most proud of) are the customers that come in to shop with love + intention. These are the customers that have worked hard and saved up for the purchase, to either treat themselves or someone they love. It’s really the sweetest, sweetest feeling that goes beyond a monetary purchase. These moments are typically milestones and we’re humbled to take a dainty shining part of that. These moments are also the moments that inspire us to not give up, nothing is out of reach nor unattainable if you set your mind to it and work your ass off!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I grew up in the suburbs of Diamond Bar and moved to Downtown LA in 2017. Eating is a big past time in our household, and especially as a Taiwanese immigrant. So here are a list of places I’d take my best friend to eat!

East LA
– Los Cincos Puntos (best burrito in LA, don’t @ me!)
– Tacos El Compitas
– El Taurino
– Azay (French Infused Japanese breakfast)
– Sushi Gen
– Jitlada (Thai)
– Pa Ord (Thai)
– Song Hak (KBBQ)
– Jeff’s Table Sandwiches
– Courage Bagels
– Bestia
– SPLA Coffee
– Maru Coffee

West LA
– Kato Restaurant
– Jon & Vinny’s
– Gjusta
– Bay Cities Sandwiches
– Yazawa Japanese BBQ

Out of LA
– Tofu King (Taiwanese stinky tofu!)
– Dai Ho (Taiwanese beef noodle soup)
– Oc N Lau (the best Vietnamese escargot)
– Kagura (pork loin Katsu in South Bay)
– Ichimiann (hand made soba noodles in South Bay)

Things to Do
– Los Angeles Flower Market <3
– more plant shopping at Folia Collective in Eagle Rock
– walk around the rooftop garden of Walt Disney Concert Hall
– stay the weekend in Laguna Beach in Orange County
– Huntington Library in Pasadena (bring a book!)
– Beverly Hills Farmers Market
– ironically visit Santa Monica Pier to people watch
– pretend to understand art at the Getty Museum
– morning hike at Griffith followed by juices at Erewhon (we’re in LA after all!)

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Yes!

There is no Costanté without my partner, Yoshi, who is the back bone of the brand and the one who encouraged me to pursue Costanté. In 2016, he began his own custom jewelry company (@kasperthejeweler) dedicated to extravagant pieces and high-end watches. Over the years, he’d ask me if I’d want to pursue my own women’s line as well, but as someone who has no experience in the creative field, let alone design, I brushed him off.

In the summer of 2018, he convinced me to design a pair of earrings inspired by my mom’s annual trip to Japan to see the cherry blossoms bloom. We casually discussed the design via text and short phone calls during my lunch breaks. A month later, he came home and showed me we’ve created – our Opal Drip Earrings. I was stunned. I could not believe this is something that we created.

We took a leap of faith and decided to launch at the Sexy Beast Gala for Planned Parenthood Los Angeles and it was our most well received piece of the evening. We continued to ride this momentum in the build of Costanté – designed and curated our own collection, launched our website, and started doing pop up events.

It’s been an incredible journey and I’m so grateful I get to share it with my partner not only in life, but now also in business. Thank you baby, thank you for believing in me and in Costanté – I love you!

Website: costante.co

Instagram: instagram.com/costante___

Image Credits
@weirdandskinny