The Modern Day Tattoo: East and other Local Moms open Perpetua, a Permanent Jewelry Company

IN APRIL, KANSAS City parent Tracy Powell browsed online boutiques and stores with the hopes of finding a memorable gift for a friend of hers. She stumbled across Catbird, a permanent jewelry company located in New York City. Looking at the handmade, dainty silver and gold bracelets and necklaces, she thought, I could totally do that myself.

Permanent, or “forever,” jewelry are sustainable jewelry pieces that are welded together to stay on a person’s body forever, unless wanted removed sooner. Tracy had been casually looking for jobs and business ideas, and after Catbird inspired her, she got to work researching what kind of materials and training she would need.

“Literally that night I came up with a name, Perpetua, I designed a logo and created an Instagram page,” Tracy said. “Then, I bought a welder and started taking welding classes.”

After a few successful welding classes, Tracy had lunch with two friends, Kansas City parent Paige Beck and East parent Jennifer Ecton. They were immediately hooked on the idea, and Tracy slowly began teaching the two how to weld. After researching metals and techniques, the three decided to offer gold, rose gold and occasionally silver pieces as either a bracelet, necklace or anklet, all ranging from $80 to $200. 

One of the most important aspects of Perpetua to the three moms was creating good-quality, long-lasting pieces. To them, the idea is perfect for people who love to wear jewelry all the time, and are interested in wearing simple, stackable pieces that hold memories. 

“We were really interested in how sustainable it could be,” Jennifer said. “Everything is so throwaway [now], and we thought it was such a great idea to do something that lives on you for as long as you want.”

After months of research, they officially opened Perpetua in May. At first, the pieces were offered by appointment only from Tracy’s home. Soon after, Perpetua began to offer pop-ups, parties and events. They still offer by-appointment, at-home welding as well.

Perpetua typically pops-up at birthday parties, graduation parties and weddings. However, one that they specifically enjoy attending is mother-daughter events. 

“We get a lot of women who are like, ‘Oh, my daughter’s going off to college,’ or ‘I want to do something special with my daughter that they’ll remember,’” Jennifer said. “It’s kind of the modern version of matching tattoos.”

Jennifer’s daughters and East freshmen Charlotte and Adelaide Ecton look forward to getting a matching piece with their mom eventually, to represent a special memory, such as their involvement all together with the National Charity League. 

“I could see it being something special for us to do in the future,” Adelaide said. “Maybe for when we get inducted into NCL at the ceremony, that could mark a great memory.”

While Perpetua has met their goal of hosting one pop-up a week regularly since opening, the three owners still struggle with aspects of business-owning, specifically marketing. Tracy, Paige and Jennifer reach many groups through their community involvement, such as NCL and their kids’ sports and clubs. Still, they struggle with getting a name out to the public, especially when it comes to explaining an idea so new.

“You have to put yourself out there when you explain the idea to someone,” Tracy said. “And you have to risk rejection. People think, ‘Oh, no, I don’t have time for that,’ or ‘I’m not really interested in that.’ And while it is such a cool concept, and everybody who’s done it loves it, it’s just hard getting it out there, and getting people to see the value in it and to commit.”

Besides marketing-related struggles, the Perpetua owners have had to work with COVID-19 rules and regulations. But so far, it hasn’t turned out to be a huge problem for them. When they opened in May, COVID-19 cases were at an all-time low since March of 2020, and it made for a clean start, according to Beck. All three owners are vaccinated and wear masks when hosting pop-ups at parties if they can’t hold them outside.

Tracy doesn’t plan on franchising Perpetua anytime in the near future, but has hopes to expand the staff size as the brand grows. This could mean teaching a new group of women to weld and run pop-ups in new locations, or creating a larger online platform with more jewelry customization options. But for now, the women are sticking to what they know, which is classic, timeless and simple everlasting jewelry: the modern-day tattoo.