EXCLUSIVE: Issa Rae Named ‘Chief Storyteller’ at Cast Jewelry Brand
Cast is embarking on its biggest celebrity partnership three years after its launch.
The San Francisco-based fine jewelry brand is joining forces with actress, writer and producer Issa Rae on a long-term partnership that kicks off Tuesday with Rae’s first jewelry collaboration.
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“I took a meeting with their team and met Rachel [Skelly], who’s one of the founders, and her vision for the company and specifically the storytelling behind jewelry, and their jewelry in general, really appealed to me,” Rae said. “She talks about how most jewelry is always advertised to women to wait to be gifted by men. I never thought about it that way, so just on the storytelling side, I was interested in getting involved. In addition to obviously loving their designs, learning that they’re mostly a female-led organization and prioritize sustainability — just a lot of their values align with my own.”
Rae, who is officially the “chief storyteller” at Cast, is debuting her partnership with the Braeve Collection. The 22-piece collection is infused with Cast’s playful take on fine jewelry with rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and pendants designed with 14-karat gold, sterling silver, black onyx and lab-grown diamonds. The collection ranges in price from $250 to $5,900.
A key style in the collection is the Flip Pendant, which takes inspiration from Cast’s bestselling Flip Ring. The pendant can be twisted to reveal a black onyx side or a 14-karat gold side per the wearer’s preference.
“We’re very playful with our brand,” Skelly said. “Issa loves our Flip Ring, and it’s an innovation that we’ve patented. She loved the idea of this collection being able to sort of shift with your mood. We talked about a lot of stacking with our cuffs and our rings to kind of dial your look up and down. But, she really was sort of pining for that flipping and that ability to kind of showcase how you’re feeling on the inside and project that with your jewelry.”
Rae said she worked closely with Skelly to reflect her minimalistic style through the jewelry collaboration and how she uses jewelry to amplify her style.
“I’m such a minimalist,” she said. “My daily uniform is jeans, a T-shirt and Chucks, so jewelry is the way that I dress up. When I think about how I want to show up in certain rooms, like the name Braeve Collection even came about, because I sometimes feel like jewelry is my armor. It gives me confidence. It makes me feel powerful and so the jewelry really helps to accentuate my simplistic personal style.”
Cast said this collaboration continues its ethos of offering accessible fine jewelry for women.
“We are creating a market,” said Cast’s chief executive officer, Amy Shecter. “There’s a lot that exists in a lower price point, so up to $200 or so, and then there’s a lot that exists over $1,000. We’ve really identified this opportunity in fine jewelry in the $250 to $1,000 price point for self-purchase. We don’t think anybody’s doing it in the way that we’re doing it, which is modern, artful and using beautiful materials.”
Cast has steadily expanded during its three years on the jewelry market. Last November, the brand embarked on its first retail partnership with Nordstrom, opening standalone style bars in six of the retailer’s locations.
The brand has continued expanding its in-store concept to other Nordstrom locations over the last year, including at the retailer’s New York City flagship. Schecter stated the expansion is an exciting one for Cast as New York City is one of the brand’s strongest markets in the country.
In addition to the Nordstrom partnership, Cast has three brick-and-mortar locations in the San Francisco area. Schecter stated Cast’s goal is to become a 100-store chain.
Going forward with its collaboration with Rae, Cast is already working on a holiday and spring 2025 collection with the actress.
“We’re excited to just have the bigger platform of Issa,” Skelly said. “She’s got a lot more eyeballs on her than we do because we’re still a small brand. We’ve been around for three years, but we’re really excited about the amplification. So much of the spirit of who she is as an authentic, inspiring human is so aligned to the Cast DNA.”
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