Behind the Bangle, The Mother-Daughter Duo Designing A Must-Have Accessory

For Mimi and Susan Shapiro, jewelry is more than something you wear—it’s a way to tell your story. The mother-daughter duo behind DuBar Jewelry has created a collection of timeless pieces inspired by their favorite places, their passions, and their most treasured memories. At the center of their collection are their interchangeable tile bangles, each designed to become a personal keepsake filled with symbols of the moments that matter most. From equestrian traditions and Nantucket summers to days spent yachting on the water every tile has special meaning  With a shared love of classic style and elegant details, Mimi and Susan bring a distinctly personal touch to jewelry, creating pieces meant to be collected, layered, gifted, and passed down from one generation to the next. 

Ames Chang: Hi, it’s so nice to meet you both! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview.

Susan and Mimi Shapiro: It’s so nice to meet you, too!

AC: I am so excited to be talking to you both today about all things DuBar! I love that heirloom charm bracelets are such a big part of your story. I feel like they tell us so much about the wearer’s taste, humor, and style…almost like an autobiography on a wrist. Will you share with me a bit about the charm bracelets that inspired this journey and what made you decide to launch a jewelry line?

SS: When I was twelve, I got my charm bracelet from my mom that had a gold disk with my name on it and the date that I got the bracelet on the back.  For each accomplishment, I would get a new circle disk with the school I graduated from, and the date of graduation. My mother has the same bracelet and Mimi has the same bracelet. I’d been wanting to do an accomplishment bracelet for riders for a long time, but figured that a jangly charm bracelet wouldn’t really be the best option. So, it took me about ten years of thinking about it before I got the right form factor.

AC: Was the brand identity clear to you from the start?  

MS: I’d say no, I think the jewelry space was something we didn’t know much about when we first started and it was so fun to explore and be shaped by everything around us whether that was riders who reached out to us or just hearing what people liked. We always knew we wanted our identity to be fun and something unique, but being a unique product made it hard to pinpoint exactly what we wanted to be.  That being said, we’re really happy with how we are today.

AC: How did you come up with the idea for the interchangeable tiles?

SS: I was looking at someone’s enamel bangle and I thought, if that enamel bangle and my charm bracelet had a baby, it would be perfect. I thought lets break the enamel up into little pieces, so we worked and worked and worked on the design, and we have a patent pending on it, and it’s worked out really well.

AC: Can you tell me a bit about your design process and what part of the process of creating jewelry is most satisfying to each of you?

SS: Mostly I do the designs, although we do have an artist in Nantucket who is wonderful and she does a lot of the yachting and Nantucket designs and a couple of the equestrian ones. So, I love photography, and I love a snippet of something. If you’re in the sport of riding, and you see just the right photograph of a closeup of a hoof in motion, or something where you really understand, just from that little snippet, so much more than it shows. So that’s what I try to capture in a tile when I can, is just a little snippet that if you know, you know.

MS: I’d say seeing someone actually pick their tiles. There are ones that either we love that aren’t picked a lot, or ones that we’re unsure about and they become a favorite. Getting to see someone put together their ideal bracelet, or part of their story, or have a connection to a tile is easily the most satisfying part.

AC: To you, what makes a piece feel sophisticated?

SS: That’s a good question! I will say that there’s so many different ways to style this and because I have all the tiles, I change my tiles all the time for my outfit. So if I’m feeling fun or frivolous, it has a lot more color. And if I’m trying to feel chic and understated and quiet luxury, it’s mostly the rail white tiles that I wear. 

“The biggest piece of advice is … taking every experience that we have in the brand, in the show ring, in anything, and making it into something. That’s something that DuBar was built around is all the little pieces that we celebrate.”

MS: To add to that, I think doing DuBar together has changed our definition of sophisticated. When it first came out, we thought, if you want to be fun you can do multiple colors, and now, people do all five colors in the equestrian tiles and it looks so phenomenal. Someone can wear it with a pantsuit and it looks so sophisticated and I think it’s really changed our definition of what jewelry means in terms of sophistication and how much fun you can have with it.

AC: Are your perspectives and insights quite similar?  

MS: I think so. I mean, I’m definitely her daughter, for sure! I do more of the marketing side and we definitely have different opinions, but we have similar taste which helps a lot in terms of brand vision. And, I’m a jumper, she’s a hunter, so if we break it down equestrian wise it gives us different views of things. We have a lot of fun and we’re pretty similar in that way.

AC: It is so special for a mother and daughter to work together.  How has your relationship as mother-daughter evolved since working and leading a company together? 

SS: I think we’re both pleasantly surprised at how well we work together. We’ve always had a great relationship, but it’s a pleasure to be able to work together and be in the same family, and have that going smoothly.

MS: I absolutely agree. It brings me back to when we used to drive to the horse shows together. We had our own trailer, and we drove our horse, and we’d have hours to talk about things, and things we do, and riding goals, and it just feels like a long extension of that. And we are truly lucky to work so well together. I think it’s rare to have a mother-daughter team that can do that and I think we do it well.

AC: Mimi, what is the best piece of advice your mom has given you and Susan, what have you learned from Mimi since starting DuBar?

SS: Mimi is better than I am at sitting with something and waiting and getting the most thoughtful approach to something. Much more so than I am, I can be a bit more reactive, and so it’s nice to watch her and the way that she interacts with vendors and customers is really a pleasure to watch. I’ve just enjoyed watching that and I gain something from it and sometimes try to emulate it, which is embarrassing since I’m 57 to be learning in this way, but it’s fantastic.

MS: I’d say the biggest piece of advice is to take everything into perspective. What’s a win, how can we pivot from this, and really taking every experience that we have in the brand, in the show ring, in anything, and making it into something. That’s something that DuBar was built around is all the little pieces that we celebrate, and I think it’s been throughout my entire childhood was that idea of, this is great, let’s focus on this, and we’ve done that with the brand, and I think that’s really changed it for us.

AC: When did horses first become a part of your mother-daughter story?

SS: I think Mimi was three when her older brother and I were taking lessons together. I had taken years off of riding and got back into it with my son, who doesn’t ride anymore. But when Mimi was three, she joined our lessons, and we’ve been riding on and off ever since.

MS: We’ve switched, when I left for college, she took over my lease, and now I’m getting back into it, and hopefully we will both do it together for a while!

AC: Do the two of you show together, as well?

MS: We have! We used to switch show jackets at the show. When she was just getting back into it, she had the adult crossrails equitation, and I had the equitation beginnings medal on the other side. We would literally run between and switch show coats and horses since it was two little classes. 

SS: We were two girls with one show coat, I think we had one helmet between us, because I was just getting back into it, so I hadn’t gotten my gear or anything yet.

MS: We now have two show coats, that was a big moment for us and that was this winter!

AC: What lessons have horses taught you that has carried over into making jewelry and other aspects of your life?

MS: You never know what’s going to happen. You could have your best day, you could have your worst day, but horses, just like life, have minds of their own, and you have to understand the horse that you have today, and that has carried over to understanding whatever is happening today in life.

AC: Is there a horse you’ve known that you feel is somehow a part of DuBar? 

MS: My heart horse, Stowaway has a tile. He is so amazing and he changed the sport for me. I love him so much, he is now retired and I think he really brought us back to riding together in a very special way, and he is a very unique animal. He made us really celebrate all the little wins, and he’s truly just the best. That was the horse we switched show jackets on, and the horse that got her back into riding, so he’s just really special to us.

AC: Horse people love to talk about their horses! Have you ever considered designing personalized tiles for customers featuring their horses?

SS: We have! So, we have a bespoke line that yacht clubs use a lot and I would imagine that barns could get together and get their logo or some imagery that’s important to them on it. We haven’t yet gotten down to the single image for a single customer, but maybe that’s in the future!

AC: In addition to the equestrian collection, I love that you also have a Nantucket and a yachting collection. It seems your brand is highly influenced by hobbies and places that are dear to you. Where else do you draw inspiration from and what collection would you like to launch next?

SS: It’s funny because I feel like the brand is our life in hyperbole, because we’re boating or we’re horsing, and we’re working hard in all of the things. We have a polo line and a dressage line coming out in 2027, which is very exciting, and then some different towns that are special to us. We’re really just starting with the places we know, and love, and have some insight into. The Jersey Seashore, Florida, just different places!

AC: Lastly, What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?

MS: I’d say, try everything. I studied entrepreneurship before doing this, and no one really knows when they’re first starting out that you can do a lot more than you think you can. There are so many resources that are available, and do the reach out! Reach out to whoever, talk to the people that you have questions for, or just the people that are creating brands, and 99% of the time, they’ll reach back out, and it really helps.

SS: Just do the next thing. Do the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing you know, you’re down the road in the best way!

AC: Thank you so much for an amazing interview. I had so much fun interviewing both of you!

SS and MS: Thank you, too!

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