It’s a fashionista’s shopping nightmare: scouring boutiques for the perfect bijoux to add to a jewelry collection yet coming up empty-handed. But when Meri Devore found herself in this situation, she turned a dissatisfying shopping trip into a successful accessories line, HEET, which she launched early this year.
A collector of fine jewelry from her worldly travels with her husband, Devore wasn’t finding the unique fashion accessories she was looking for locally. “I just decided I can do this and I’m going to make something that other people will love as much as I will,” she says.
Originally from New York, Devore traded in her career in graphic design when she became a full-time mother and moved to Palm Beach Gardens. She says she never expected her designs to launch a second career. “I was not considering going into business," she explains. "It was something that I decided I wanted to have for myself.”
She wore her jewelry out and about and immediately garnered attention. She began selling to private clients, hosting trunk shows, and eventually selling wholesale. Her jewelry ended up on the shelves of high-end boutiques along the likes of Alexis Bittar.
The handle, HEET, is a play on words. Devore’s clientele kept describing her designs as "hot." She decided on the word heat as the brand name, but opted for a special spelling and incorporated the first initials of her two children Evan and Emily. Devore designs and creates her cuffs in her home studio and uses a unique combination of materials—natural leather, nickel-free metals and Swarovski crystals—to achieve her edgy yet luxurious aesthetic. All the material is purchased in the United States. Her cuffs are available in three sizes (1 ½, 2 and 3 inches wide), and are meant to be collected and stacked high on the wrist. Classically designed, the HEET collection is meant to always be fashionable, no matter the current fashion trends. “I’m not designing for a certain market," Devore says. "I design for myself and create what I want to wear. I’m lucky enough that other women want the same thing.”
Devore’s next collection launches this fall, and includes metallic leathers and patterns. This time around, she is incorporating earrings and necklaces, as well.
