Margaret O’Rourke wears her charisma like a scent. It expands to fill a room and lingers after she leaves. 

Dressed in black, with limbs and extremities subtly glittering in gold, O’Rourke’s elegant persona goes some way to explaining the success of her jewellery business MoMuse. 

A naturally private person, she typically turns down requests for media interviews, or from lifestyle magazines to photograph her home which she shares with her husband Paul. 

But in the shadow of a looming economic slowdown she agreed to speak to The Currency podcast as the conditions in which she got her start in the jewellery trade could soon be repeated, and others may look to emulate what she has done. 

Leaving a full-time job in advertising with a nest egg and no formal training in jewellery making, she started a weekend stall at a Dublin market fifteen years ago. Since then O’Rourke has built her company into a strong business that has grown year on year without external investment, without debt and without any paid advertising.

The most recently filed accounts for MoMuse Limited, show the company had €951,612 cash at hand, as of 31 May 2020. This is up from €749,584 the year previous. It had net assets of €877,136  up from €602,665 in 2019, and had €89,261 in liabilities.

It now employs eight staff and derives about 45 per cent of its sales from its retail store in Dublin City Centre, 35 per cent from its online business and the remainder from its wholesale trade to independent retailers around the country and in Avoca outlets.

MoMuse occupies a particular position in the Irish jewellery market. Focusing on modernist design, it uses geometric shapes and is affordably priced for everything from small gifts to Bridal jewellery – prices range from €20 for a gold filled ring to €2,450 for an 18 karat gold sapphire ring.

The pieces are delicate but not uniquely identifiable. There is no MoMuse branding or designer signature. Yet there is something defiant that sets the business apart – something that has caused it to grow during the last recession and thrive during the pandemic.

“A lot of people said at that stage, ‘Are you crazy? We are going into a big recession.’ But it grew and grew.” 

O’Rourke built her first career in outdoor advertising, but the stress of meeting financial targets wore her out over the years.

With some savings built up, she left her job and took some time off, travelling with her husband to jewellery trade shows while he was working for a company that invented lapel pins.

“I decided to go on trade shows with him and I started to look at buying in little brands and that is where I got the idea,” O’Rourke told The Currency podcast.

“I started buying in little pieces, and trying to sell them directly, or going to people’s houses, just fun stuff like that and from there I started thinking, I can figure this out. I think I’ll be able to make some pieces.”

O’Rourke started off with working out of a home studio and selling from a stall in the Cow’s Lane market in Temple Bar on a Saturday morning, before moving to The Loft market in the Powerscourt townhouse centre on South William Street.  

After a few years, O’Rourke and a few others bandied together and took over a unit on the ground floor of the Powerscourt centre with a one year lease. 

“A lot of people said at that stage, ‘Are you crazy? We are going into a big recession.’ But it grew and grew.” 

“I remember taking one day off a week and finding someone to help me, and I just sat at that desk making, and I am still there now thirteen years in that same location.”

Simple, classic

For those initial years when MoMuse was finding its customer base, the retail prong of the business was all it had, and so creating a space that reflected O’Rourke’s own values was essential. 

“I wanted to create a space where you could easily feel relaxed walking in and that you weren’t under pressure to buy something and that has been my ethos from day one,”O’Rourke said.

“I believe in a relaxed space and affordable quality at the same time. I am surrounded by a lot of antique jewellers and other jewellers in the city centre and I didn’t have any interest in competing in that.”

MoMuse gets customers of all ages and a range of budgets and it has eschewed any pretentiousness -think doorbells and white gloves – that sometimes come with those dealing in precious metals and stones.

Simple, classic and wearable is how she defines her own pieces and the store too. By using dimmed lighting, darkly toned walls, and jewellery that is accessibly on display- it is a place both men and women feel comfortable in.

One of the biggest moments in the MoMuse story was being featured in the New York Times’s round up of five places to shop in Dublin in July 2017 off the High Street thoroughfare of Grafton Street. A freelancer who visited the shop in the spring, later wrote up the piece calling MoMuse “inviting” and named checked the jewellery designer as part of an enclave of exciting Irish design.

This one roundup put MoMuse on the map for international clients and O’Rourke talks in the podcast about American customers arriving in for weeks after with a clipping of the paper and asking for photos with her. The experience and resulting international trade ensured the retailer was prepared to a certain extent for the wholesale shift to online when the pandemic hit in 2020. 

One man band

O’Rourke wears her success with delight, yet without surprise. She has worked hard over many years to build something that can last. 

After operating as a one man band for years, and both swearing they would never work together, O’Rourke’s husband, who has thirty years experience in the jewellery trade from the components end, came on board during the pandemic as financial controller. 

The O’Rourkes’ approach to growth is uniform in the belief that it is something that can last only when built carefully and over time. 

“I think we both agree that we don’t want to conquer the world, I think we can leave that up to the young people to do that. It is about slow, organic growth,” Paul O’Rourke told The Currency.

“One of the big mistakes people make and we have seen it over the years, is opening a second unit. I think it can really drain a business and drain resources.”

“Until you have actually maximised everything you can do with your current location and especially with the online business, I don’t see the need to open a second, third or fourth store. I think a lot of people got caught out in that with Covid.”

Listen to the podcast to hear how O’Rourke personalises her approach, retains customer loyalty and is shifting the business into its next phase of growth.

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