LACE Tried Life Without MOTIF. Then We Started Working Together Again.

MOTIF began working with LACE in 2018, when the business was still closely tied to Jenny Wu’s personal identity as an architect and designer. The goal was never simply to sell more jewelry, but to turn an unusual creative proposition into a business capable of growing without making LACE less personal, less experimental or more like conventional jewelry.

As the relationship evolved, so did the goal: build stronger ecommerce, create demand, expand the customer base, move into higher-consideration fine jewelry and bridal, connect digital with physical retail, and ultimately help LACE grow from a founder-led designer brand into an international business without designing the founder out of it.

LACE never had a problem being interesting. The harder problem was turning that interest into sustained commercial demand.

Its architecture-led design process and digital fabrication gave the brand a story few jewelry companies could tell, but technical innovation alone was not enough to make someone desire a ring, necklace or engagement piece. The business needed to translate intellectual interest into emotion, trust and purchase while serving increasingly different customers and price points.

Our relationship was also not uninterrupted. During a period when MOTIF stepped away, LACE worked with several other agencies and partners before we eventually began working together again. We returned to a very different company with a broader product range, larger ambitions, physical retail and a new set of commercial problems to solve.

MOTIF’s work with LACE has changed as the company has changed.

What began around ecommerce and growth developed into a much wider relationship spanning brand strategy, Shopify, customer experience, merchandising, creative direction, acquisition, lifecycle, measurement and the connection between digital and physical commerce.

A major shift was moving the commercial story beyond the novelty of 3D printing. Technology explains how Jenny can create forms conventional jewelry-making struggles to produce, but it is not why someone falls in love with a piece. We increasingly built the experience around desire, design, intimacy and the person wearing the jewelry, while allowing architecture and technology to provide the credibility underneath.

As LACE expanded into fine jewelry, bridal and physical retail, we also stopped treating every customer as though they were making the same purchase. The business now has to accommodate first-time discovery, returning collectors, gift purchases, engagement decisions and higher-value pieces, across customers who may move between online and physical environments before buying.

The exact systems behind that work remain between LACE and MOTIF. What matters publicly is where the relationship has taken the business.

• Evolved LACE’s Shopify and ecommerce experience as the company moved through different stages of growth.

• Shifted communication from technology-first product explanation toward design, desire and human meaning.

• Built different customer journeys around accessible jewelry, fine jewelry, bridal and higher-consideration purchases.

• Connected merchandising more closely with acquisition and customer behaviour.

• Developed creative direction around the tension between architecture, precision and intimacy.

• Refined paid acquisition around customer intent rather than treating every visitor or product equally.

• Developed stronger retention and lifecycle thinking around existing customers.

• Connected digital commerce with LACE’s growing physical retail presence.

• Supported international expansion as the brand developed a stronger presence across Los Angeles and Taiwan.

• Continued testing, learning and changing direction when previous assumptions or approaches stopped producing the result the business needed.

The LACE MOTIF began working with in 2018 and the LACE we work with today are materially different businesses.

What was once a deeply personal, predominantly digital designer-jewelry business has developed into a broader international operation spanning accessible jewelry, fine jewelry, bridal, ecommerce and physical retail, with presence in both Los Angeles and Taiwan.

LACE’s design credibility has travelled with that growth. Jenny Wu’s work has entered LACMA’s permanent collection and has been worn by names including Scarlett Johansson, Lucy Liu and Christina Aguilera. Yet the part of the story MOTIF values most is not a celebrity placement, award or advertising result.

It is what happened after we left.

During our time apart, Jenny experienced several other agency relationships and different ways of growing the business. When MOTIF and LACE eventually chose to work together again, we were not returning to recreate 2018. We were returning with more experience on both sides and a much larger business problem to solve.

Today, our work is increasingly about connecting brand, commerce, customer acquisition, retention and physical retail as one business rather than optimizing each independently.

After eight years of history, including failures, successes, time apart and eventually finding our way back to one another, perhaps the strongest result is simply this:

LACE had other options. So did MOTIF. We chose to build the next chapter together.