When Christina Senia was graduating from college in 2016 as a Mechanical Engineer major, she had been looking through her college ring catalog and noticed the lack of options available for women. “I researched the history and found out that graduation rings were invented by men and for men before women could go to school,” Senia tells GRAZIA USA. “Interestingly enough, I found out that actually more women than men graduate from university now.”
This inspired her to take matters into her own hands and create her own college ring. Christina utilized the same software she was using in her engineering lab to create the design, which was a stacked style ring with roman numerals, now called “The Halo Ring.” Soon enough, friends wanted their own “Halo,” and what started as just making a few rings for friends, eventually turned into so much more.
In 2018, Christina met a woman at a party who loved her unique, one-of-a-kind college ring. “I found out that this woman came from Vince and is now the president of Zimmerman and I was like, ‘Well, okay, if she says so, we got to do it,'” Christina recalls.
With demand for product rolling in, Christina knew she had to bring in someone to help her, and who better than her sister, Gina Senia. Gina graduated college in 2021 as a business major and like Christina, was passionate about creating meaningful, beautiful jewelry that was sustainable and size inclusive.
Together, the Senia sisters decided to create their own sustainable jewelry brand, Senia, which launched in 2020. Gina works on the business side of Senia, helping with the financial aspect, and weighing on in the creative parts too.
In addition to commemorative rings, the brand creates other must-have pieces, like the infinity earrings that can be worn 50 ways, and the overall product offering includes items that are meant to be chic, functional, and accessible.
But it wasn’t all a walk in the park. “I was knocking on doors in the diamond district — no one wanted to work with us. Because I’m an engineer, I had this whole vision of making everything functional and modular, which is a lot of extra work,” Christina explains.
Launching in the pandemic also wasn’t easy. “We turned to advice from people in the industry and similar industries, and pretty much everyone advised us to not launch at that time, but we did it anyways.” Gina says. “I think it was almost a blessing in disguise, because there was so much that we had to deal with upfront due to shipping delays and just the whole world being shut down.”
The Senia sisters thought they would only be selling the signet rings as graduation or college rings. “A lot of people were buying them for anniversaries, birthdays, commemorating lost loved ones, just things in general that the pandemic stole from us,” Christina shares.
One of their best selling items, the “Infinity Earrings” were inspired by pure convenience. “I was packing for a weekend trip, and I was looking at my jewelry box. It was a mess,” Christina recalls. She asked herself why all her earrings were combinations of circles. “I just wanted to make one set I can wear a million ways. I don’t want to worry about it anymore.”
The convenience and functionality of the “Infinity Earrings” proved to be a smart product. “We sold those out in 24 hours. I couldn’t believe the response,” Christina says.
Along with Senia’s versatile designs, a core focus of the brand is to be size inclusive, offering sizes ranging from 4 to 12, though the brand can also make a ring in any size.
Along with inclusivity, sustainability is also at the forefront of Senia. “I realized how dirty the industry is,” Christina says. “There’s no real regard for sustainability. But one thing that’s great about jewelry in general is it is a sustainable product at its core. It is meant to last forever.”
“I always try to make new from existing,” Christina continues. “I have two things in my control, the materials I use and the design.” Christina decided she can do her part by designing and sourcing more sustainably through recycled metals, while creating jewelry that is able to be styled several different ways, making it look new every time.
Gina adds, “Senia is focused on what the customer wants. Christina really tries to cater to them. I think the relationship between Christina and the customer is super strong. She is always wanting feedback on what they want to see next, and what they feel like they’re missing in their closet.”
New collections from Senia will drop in the upcoming months. Later this summer, the brand will be available to shop on revolve.com.
