Revive Jewelry

MEET NIKKI ZAZZALI — OWNER AND DESIGNER OF REVIVE JEWELRY, A LOS ANGELES-BASED BRAND THAT DESIGNS UNIQUE JEWELRY USING CELLULAR IMAGES TO CREATE COLORFUL, QUALITY PIECES WITH MEANING. REVIVE DONATES A PORTION OF PROCEEDS TO CHARITIES THAT SUPPORT DISEASE RESEARCH.

Cancer doesn’t just impact one person, it also takes a toll on family members and friends of the person diagnosed. Survivors and loved ones overcome the struggles and uncertainty a diagnoses a treatment brings. It touches nearly every facet of life — but through it all, there is hope, love and community through family and friends who rally behind their person to support them in their journey.

Revive Jewelry sells necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings handmade by Owner and Designer Nikki Zazzali in Los Angeles. Revive currently represents 19 causes ranging from Childhood Cancer to COVID-19 research, Breast Cancer awareness, Diabetes research, Infertility, HIV & AIDS research to Lymphoma and Melanoma research. Revive Jewelry donates 10% of its profits to cause-specific charities.

Nikki Zazzali, owner and designer of Revive Jewelry.

Zazzali established Revive Jewelry in 2016 after her experience in the jewelry industry and two of her family members were diagnosed with cancer. Zazzali has been creating jewelry most of her life, and didn’t think of it as a career option until she was halfway through college and began making jewelry and taking jewelry classes.

“Through my studies in college, I had a few projects and needed some inspiration — and H1N1 or the Swine Flu was happening at the time — so I looked it up online and a picture of the cell virus popped up —  so I used the H1N1 picture as the inspiration for that project,” Zazzali says. “I really liked that design, so I continued to make my jewelry that way through college and adopted that as my design aesthetic.”

Although Zazzali wanted to start her own jewelry company, she was just out of college and wasn’t sure how to develop the business to be profitable full-time, so she worked in a few different jewelry companies in Los Angeles for eight years as a production manager before pursuing Revive full-time.

“I learned a lot working at those companies and it was at the time that my grandfather was diagnosed with Lung Cancer and my brother was diagnosed with Lupus,” Zazzali says.

“Going through both of those experiences made me realize that I could take those cellular designs and turn them into giving back so that other people who were going through a similar situation didn’t have to feel so hopeless,” Zazzali says. “Or they could also find something that was a meaningful piece of jewelry that also could help other people, so you don’t just buy one necklace and it’s over, it’s kind of like a gift that keeps on giving because  part of the money spent on the jewelry went back to help other people.”

Revive’s Breast Cancer awareness hoop earrings and necklaces.

Revive’s Spring 2021 Collection focuses on 9 causes: shades of blue for Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, Multiple Sclerosis and Ovarian Cancer awareness, pink for Breast Cancer awareness, purple for Pancreatic Cancer and Lung Cancer awareness and reds for Lupus awareness and Heart Disease. The collection includes earrings, necklaces and bracelets.

“A couple things inspired the creation of the Spring 2021 styles; the first was looking at what people were gravitating towards online — there’s 19 total causes and this 2021 Collection expands on nine of them, so there were analytics behind why I chose those nine, but then the specific designs themselves came from a couple different things,” Zazzali says.

“The light and airiness of spring dictated the colors. And I get jewelry ideas that pop into my head so I usually have a sketchbook or notebook with me and I’ll draw them out and collect those over the months and whenever I need to do a collection I’ll go back and look at the different designs that I’ve drawn out and choose some and make them.”

Revive’s Ovarian Cancer awareness necklaces and earrings from the Spring 2021 Collection.

“And sometimes, and this happened with this collection as well, I accumulate stones and those can be inspiration. I know what the images that I’m going to use look like, but they change slightly depending on the different causes. In the past when I went to a gem show, I may see something that is unique that I’m drawn to, I’ll pick some of it up and keep that in my back pocket for when I’m ready to do more designs.”

Revive Jewelry is made with high-quality materials to last a long time, which Zazzali says is a huge driving force behind her business. “Not only do I want to put out a great product, but I also want the quality of that product to mirror the quality of life that I desire for everybody who’s going to wear the jewelry,” Zazzali says. “We’re trying to create a disease-free world and this jewelry should align with that intention, so giving people quality of life and a quality piece of jewelry is a huge striving factor for me.”

“When I worked for previous companies, one of them charged a lot for jewelry that I knew was going to break and we were doing repairs all the time, so I knew I had to put out a good quality product. All of the metals I use for the jewelry are solid sterling silver and 14K gold filled, which is also hypoallergenic,” Zazzali says.

“The jewelry means a lot to people because Revive is more than just jewelry — it’s awareness, charity, cures, hope and strength. The pieces represent their battle or a loved one that they’ve lost. It gives people a way to honor their loved one’s memory by wearing it and giving back to others.”

“The pendants are my favorite because that’s where I get to be creative. I use sterling silver or 14K gold filled bezel and take the cellular images (or histology slides), and I trim them so they fit into the bezel cup, then I pour resin over the top and you get this really shiny pendant that looks like a stone but is this colorful cellular image.”

Zazzali says customer feedback has been incredibly positive and validates that Revive represents more than jewelry and is making a positive impact on customers and helping others.

“I think people love their jewelry because Revive is more than just jewelry — it’s awareness, charity, cures, hope and strength. People connect with a piece that represents their battle or a loved one that they’ve lost. I spoke with a women recently who was a two-time breast cancer survivor and she said, ‘I’m so happy I found your jewelry because I have a unique piece of jewelry to represent my battle,’ so she saw the jewelry as a badge of honor to commemorate her journey.”

Revive’s stacked bracelets showcasing various causes.

“At in-person events, people are drawn to the piece that represents the person that they were thinking of, so for example I met a lady who was drawn to this necklace that was for Ovarian Cancer and I told her the cause and she got teary eyed; she bought it and told me the person she was thinking of who had ovarian cancer,” Zazzali says.

“The jewelry means a lot to people because it connects them to that person who’s passed on and it gives them a way to honor their memory by wearing the jewelry and by giving back to help other people not have to go through the same experience and hopefully cure it in the future.”

Zazzali says she wants to represent all causes, but it’s a lengthy process to add a new cause since it involves investing in making the product, product photography, adding it online with pricing and selecting a charity partner to work with for that cause. Zazzali offers customization as well, so if a customer has a specific cause they want that’s not already carried on the site, she will work with them to create that piece.

“The Cure Alzheimer’s Fund and Pancreatic Cancer Action Network have been amazing,” Zazzali says. “I’ve made personal relationships with the people who work there because they’re so amazing and they will post on their social media and it helps because we all have the same goal, which is to cure these diseases.”

As an entrepreneur, Zazzali says the most rewarding part is hearing positive feedback from customers who love the jewelry. “I got a call at Christmastime from a lady who had been searching for something to honor her husband who passed earlier that year and she found my company and she got gifts for her daughters to remember their father,” Zazzali says.

“That’s the kind of thing that drives me because I’m getting to use my talent to help these other people connect with someone who is so special to them and integral to their life that it kind of immortalizes them…they wear their necklace, see it in the mirror, touch it, and they’re like ‘my dad’s here’ or ‘I’m so strong I got through breast cancer twice.’

“That motivates me to keep going because there are days when it is very hard and you haven’t gotten an order in a few days and you’re like, ‘why am I even doing this?’ and then you get a call like that and you’re like, ‘Okay, this is why I do this.’”

She also wants to continue expanding the causes Revive offers in the future, as she often receives requests to create a line for other causes. “I have to keep expanding because there’s so much out there, every disease deserves a voice and we have to keep going and raising as much money for as many different causes as we can.”

As Revive expands the causes they offer, she hopes to grow organically into a large household name in the future where people know the Revive brand, like Kendra Scott.

“My vision is to expand the cause offerings and then at some point, grow into offering other accessories like scarves, handbags printed with custom fabrics in the cell images and becoming a lifestyle brand.”

To view Revive Jewelry’s products and learn more about how they support various causes, visit ReviveJewelry.com.

Note: As an affiliate partner of Dough, we get commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Opinions and recommendations are our own. Each purchase supports a woman-owned business. Check out Alyssa’s Collection including Revive Jewelry here.

Revive’s Guardian Angel necklace for Lung Cancer Research.