About us
Who are we?
Based in Lisbon, Portugal, ORYA Jewelry® was born in January 2020 from a girl with a dream.
Founded by Carolina Cordeiro, ORYA Jewelry® started out as a hobby to help her deal with her anxiety in the middle of medical school and quickly became her job.
As a brand, we want to empower women by supporting them in their dreams and by making them feel beautiful in their own skin. Girl, you need to love yourself first so you can do great things for others. So start there! (By spoiling yourself!)
As a company, we have mostly worked with BOSS girls, because we believe in a world built by women. We want you to feel empowered with our jewels because you are EXTRAORDINARY!
Our vision
We aspire to be your first choice when you want to treat yourself with high quality jewelry without spending the savings of a lifetime! Let’s be honest: we want to feel beautiful and keep both of our kidneys. Here you can find elegant and timeless pieces and dress yourself with the self-esteem you are worth.
Our mission
Yes, it is possible to look like royalty without wearing a crown. Because being luxurious is about the way you feel and not the way you look. Of course, wearing the right details helps! And that's where we come in - offering you waterproof, non-tarnish, non-allergenic high quality stainless steel jewelry that doesn't leave your wallet naked. Here's the real thing we believe in: it IS NOT about how much you spend on a ring that makes them quality jewelry; it IS about all our attention to detail and guarantee of quality we assure on our jewelry. But nothing is better than trying it yourself. Wear it and tell it!
Our values
We stand for honesty .
In our opinion, there is nothing worse than fooling someone into buying something that isn't what the seller claims it to be, either concerning materials or the way the product is made. Here, we assure you are buying from a true friend.
We hold for quality .
Stainless steel is one of the most resistant metals, which also has a not-so-expensive price, meaning that it is one of the most desirable in the modern era. Besides the metal characteristics, we also offer a gold PVD coating that will last longer than only plated jewelry sold by other companies. We always establish the highest standards because we believe one should be the best version of oneself.
We advocate for sustainability.
We dream of our planet becoming green again - and we are doing what we can to make sure of it. All of our packaging is 100% reusable or recyclable and we make sure the plastic we use has had many other lives before coming to our hands. Our card boxes are FSC® certified which reassures us that no forest is being sacrificed to deliver your jewelry. We also send our jewelry in small boxes or little pouches where you can store the jewelry and maybe reuse them for other purposes that you like. Our main element - stainless steel - is also a fantastically green material because it is 100 % recyclable. In fact, the majority of the metal we use already had another story to tell.
We believe in selling an experience over just a piece of jewelry.
There is a reason why we keep investing in improving our packaging and your unboxing moment - to deliver you a true experience whilst opening your order. It is all planned to the detail: be it a gum to sweeten your mouth and make you remember your childhood, a perfume to scent the air around you or even the soft touch of the tissue paper that wraps our jewelry. And, yes - we are also addicted to spoiling you with some extra gifts inside each order.
Finally, we stand for integrity...
...because without it we believe we would not be here writing this story four years after the beginning of just a girl's dream.
SO, WHY YOU SHOULD BUY FROM US?
It isn't just about our stunning and cool jewelry. If you need more reasons to belong to this family, here they are. It is about our commitment to delivering our customers handcrafted pieces made consciously in small batches, with eco-friendly materials coming from small and local suppliers. Inside a 12 m2 studio in the heart of Lisbon, we make all the magic happen! Do you see how the wizards say that “all the magic comes with a price”? Well... not ours.
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OUR TEAM
Who is the CEO and face behind the brand?
Hey there!
My name is Carolina and I have a dream. It sounds quite cliche, right? But it's true.
I dream about a world where we can be honest with ourselves first, before we listen to society. Let me resume it for you. I am 26 years old, in the beginning of my career as a Medical Doctor, and my mind always had a struggle between two realities this world seems incapable of combining: science/reason and creativity. Although I am quite passionate about them both, people around me made me believe I would feel accomplished only by doing one. Well… not quite so.
In the middle of my masters degree, I was struggling with depression and anxiety and desperately needed something to free my mind and wake up for. At that moment, I started a hobby by creating some jewelry for me and my friends, then started to sell some items online, and before I could realize, all of this became a registered brand and my official business.
Oh gosh, I felt free again and it woke up the entrepreneur girl I knew since a little kid. It is actually quite funny because back when I was 5-6 years old, I used to sell some bracelets at school to my friends. Who knew it would become my part-time job!
I have been able to combine two of my great passions since early 2020, while studying what I like and working on what I love. And what does the future reserve for me? Maybe a doctor, maybe a business owner, maybe both… I don’t know. But I guarantee you this brand will remain alive whilst my dream does.
You can be whoever the #!&? you want to be.
XoXo, Carolina.
We have also been working with these amazing people:
Matilde Loureiro, as Photographer of the Orion Collection
Hello ORYA girls!
I'm Matilde, I'm 25 years old and I'm a Photographer.
I love traveling, listening to music and reading. I have always been organized and a perfectionist. I am passionate about animals, especially dogs and cats. Oh, and for Snowy, the most important ORYA's helper!
I had the opportunity to join the ORYA Team and take photographs for the Orion Collection, which made me very happy. Best team ever 🤍
Mariana Carriço, as Designer of our new visual identity
Hello! I'm Mariana, I'm 25 years old and I'm a Designer.
Drawing has always been one of my passions, apart from Design and Communication, in which I have a degree.
In 2022 I created the new visual identity for ORYA Jewelry, having designed the current logo, the brand elements, and choosing the new color palette. I loved working with Carolina and being part of the ORYA team! :)
Inês Gaspar, as Model in some collections
I'm Inês, I'm 25 years old and I'm a medical doctor. I'm the mother of a kitten, Jimmy.
I'm a friend and college classmate of Carolina's. We created many memories together over these 8 years, but some of my favorites happened during the ORYA photoshoots. Don't be fooled: Carolina is VERY perfectionist and becomes a little grumpy when things don't go the way she envisioned, ahah. But deep down, that's also what makes her work excellent. I am very pleased to be part of the ORYA Team and to closely monitor the growth of this dream 🤍
Pedro Rolo, as Code Developer
Hello, I'm Pedro and I'm a Computer Engineer.
It's a pleasure to be part of the ORYA Team and develop the code needed to make ORYA's dreams come true.