Malcolm and Andrea: The Silver-Studded Masterminds Behind Bloodline Design
Last year December, back when I was living in Vancouver, I was walking down West 4th on a rainy Saturday, that’s where I get my usual weekend solo brunch and where I do my groceries. I walked past this store-under-construction writing “Bloodline Design — Made in Vancouver. Coming Soon,” with pictures of wrists donned in chunky silver bracelets and beautiful rings on the models’ fingers. I made a mental note to myself, “I should come back when they open.”
I never kept track of when they opened; I sort of forgot about that.
Fast forward to around February and March, and I was doing my same brunch-grocery routine, and I walked past Bloodline again. Only this time, it’s opened!
For the size of Bloodline’s shop, they use its peripherals for displays, leaving the widely open centre space for customers to walk back and forth between displays, and a well-placed bench for the partners unwillingly dragged into the store. I remember being greeted by a voice with bravado when I walked in. She was the most welcoming, stacked with at least 3 bracelets on each wrist and diamond-clad silver rings, multiple. After a brief back and forth, I learned her name is Andrea, one-half of Bloodline Design. Remember that at this point in my life, I had never owned anything sterling silver, but I was dying to. So my intention was clear, just waiting for the right piece to come across me.
After eyeing a few pieces, I decided to pick up the Together Forever ring and a Floral Bracelet.
“By the way, would it be too far-fetched if I ask for the chance to speak with Malcolm about Bloodline? For an interview?” Since Andrea already knew about the kind of fashion work I do, she replied kindly, “We can think about it! Let me run it by Malcolm, and I will get back to you.”
There are a few reasons why I wanted to know more about Bloodline:
- The jewelry is mint
- I was guided throughout the process, and Andrea was really patient with me and wanted to help me find the perfect piece.
- I would love to meet the other half behind this operation
And there you go, after a few weeks, I’ve finally landed my interview with Mr. Bloodline — Malcolm Norman.
“Yes. Our family bracelet, the Eternal Vine link. It’s available privately only. You can insert your family name into and insert gems as well. Mark Wahlberg got it too.”
That was the answer to the first question I asked, “Was anything you’ve created inspired by Andrea?” and already name-dropping, I am 100% tuned in.
It was a pleasure speaking with Malcolm.
No, I mean it.
Malcolm is careful with his words, but his sense of humor seeps through, and he didn’t let his professionalism get lost in the process. He jokes around but snaps back to the tone of an expert when answering anything technical. Stoically professional.
When asked next about the Bloodline’s specialty, Malcolm said to be bold. What does that mean? “In my materials, never shaving back, ‘oh is it gonna cost more to do this?’, so the products, they remain unique in their magnitude, weight, and voice. When I’m doing collections recently, I like to design with a narrative and come up with something that’s been with me. Like the ‘Love & Thorn’ collection, love is so powerful, and you can’t have love without pain, you know, hearts, and skulls, and thorns, and broken hearts. So yeah, we’re remaining in classic, not diverting too far away from handmade. I’m happy being bold.”
A lot of creatives in the world of fashion lacked the integrity to stay authentic, and this sense of authenticity from Malcolm’s answer is what I am attracted to. According to Malcolm, the experience of working in marketing for Tom Sims’ SIMS Snowboards, the contact with the unwavering trueness to oneself, consistently seen throughout the snowboarding and skateboarding scene, shaped him.
Malcolm is a comprehensive thinker and planner. From the way he answers questions, he traces through every detail to paint a picture for me that’s as clear as the one in his head. Unsurprisingly, the name Bloodline wasn’t random either. One day, when Malcolm was still learning the craft, he was rifling through design books in the Vancouver Library. He came across this image of Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire, England, and the carving bears an uncanny resemblance to his current work. At the bottom of the picture, the photo was credited to “The Normans.”
Quoting Bloodline’s website: “the work of Malcolm’s ancestors lay before him, and that day the brand name Bloodline Design was born.”
Ryan: I also saw that you made jewelry for Betsy Johnson.
Malcolm: Yep, that’s a trip.
R: What did you make for her?
M: It was a collection based on bubblegum-colored pistols. And big pearls. It was my lavish kinda pearls. I was showing pearls and sort of heavy silver in my NYC showroom, and she saw that and wanted to layer that and do really big drop earrings with it. And this is when accessories were a little bit quiet, she wanted to really push. And one of her requests was to make a 6 bubblegum pink pistols in it.
R: Oh fuck yea. Do you still have pictures?
M: Yea, I’m sure we can find them somewhere in the archive.
(I unfortunately didn’t receive these pictures from them)
R: Is there anyone famous you want to make jewelry for? A person with a certain vibe that Bloodline can align with? The reason why I’m asking this is that I got into sterling silver jewelry because of Jax Teller (played by Charlie Hunnam) from Sons of Anarchy; he looks like someone that I can look up to, style-wise, and he wears a lot of sterling silver.
M: Yea? We passed on jewelry for them.
R: What? (said more like a "WHAAAAT?")
M: Yea! The timing was wrong, the pitch wasn’t quite right…
R: Oh so they came to you! That’s actually crazy.
M: Yep. But you know what? I don’t have anyone I particularly want to make jewelry for. Most of the time it’s cool people coming into the store, it’s people finding us. Because we’ve done so much with celebrities that, I just see all celebrities as “a person.”
R: What’s the biggest piece you’ve ever made?
M: This body cross here, for the [Nuestra Señora de] Atocha. Cast in pure Spanish bullion, the chain is over a kilo, and the cross itself has old Spanish rubies. The people that financed Mel Fisher (the hunter) and found the Atocha were customers of mine. When Mel Fisher found the Atocha, they brought up all this gold and treasure from the Atocha.
R: How much does this cost? A ballpark.
M: hmm, gold, a kilo chain, I don’t know around $220k or so?
The chat continued for a little bit longer until I reached the inevitable, the most exciting question anyone can ask when interviewing a designer: What advice can you give those who are just starting now?
Malcolm’s answer, however, isn’t as cliché as one would expect:
Expect hardship and expect failure. But most importantly, when you’re designing, when you’re trying to bring your imagination to life, try your best to get to as much detail as you can. You don’t want your design to be 60% or 70% of what you’ve envisioned, really try your best to lay out as much detail as possible with your product. It is hard, but make this a habit. Don’t settle for less.
As a silver jewelry fanatic, Bloodline Design ticks all the boxes for me. Give their website a browse, I guarantee you will find something that you’ll like in no time. And if you want to sell their products, this is what Malcolm said as well: “We’ll go back into wholesale in 2024, and select retail partners that really get it.” So stay tuned.