With ironically perfectly tanned skin, Charlotte Piché basks in the Montreal sun on the floor of her Pinterest-perfect minimalist studio. Her long, platinum bleach-blonde hair glimmers with each nod as she dives into the journey as founder and designer of jewelry brand Deux Lions. She’s a bohemian goddess and musician, like a character straight out of Pijama Land, but we’ll get to that later.

The brand’s aesthetic follows suit. Boasting over 13K followers on Instagram clean and perfectly curated images strewn with gold hardware and rough pearls saturate the feed along with celebrities like Caroline Vreeland and model Bambi sporting the latest creations. The Canadian brand has made its mark on local turf and is now carving out space at the forefront of the US market with e-commerce retailer Moda Operandi.

Although Piché’s first taste in fashion was a bitter one, it was strong enough to solidify that her own impact in the market had to be one of inclusivity. After working in a hot Montreal boutique in her younger years, she recalls, “I remember my bosses would only buy size small and extra small. Women would ask for larger sizes, and I knew that we didn’t have it.” She continues, “There were just so many things that were wrong with the fashion industry that I just couldn’t get behind. I always found that jewelry is one of those things that makes you feel good, no matter your age, size, or gender. It was just something that transcends through time and was a little niche industry that I could really connect with in a powerful way.”

Once Piché obtained her business degree from McGill University in Montreal, she felt deprived of a creative outlet and unsure exactly what the road of creative control would entail. A few cold calls later, she landed an internship at a New York-based jewelry brand, Pamela Love, signed up for metalsmithing classes, packed her things for the Big Apple, and never looked back. “You could really see all the different aspects of how everything comes together from inspiration to the actual piece of jewelry. Instagram was starting also, so there were a lot of visual things happening and I was feeling very inspired,” says the founder.

With just a few dollars and a wealth of newfound knowledge, Piché regrouped back in Montreal where she launched her first entrepreneurial venture in tandem with her brother, Alex Piché the brand’s lead mens’ designer–and Deux Lions was born in 2014.

The uniqueness of Deux Lions lies in its handcrafted attention to detail, deep roots among the lineage of Montreal, nature, and female divinity. “A lot of people in Canada are part indigenous, including my family bloodline,” Piché explains. “We are super connected to a native women’s shelter in Montreal, and host a fundraiser for the indigenous community.”

Roman coin necklaces, which the brand commemorates iconic women by rewriting the past, are some the brand’s most acclaimed pieces. “I cast them in wax and carved down the portraits, shaved off the men who were there originally, and replaced them with wax portraits of important women.” She grabs the necklace around her neck, “Like this one inspired by Angela Davis.”

Music also plays a large role in the brand’s ethos. Pijama Land, a French Bossanova grunge band led by Piché and her creative partner and photographer for Deux Lions, Evan Tetreault is a major aspect of inspiration which she is actively trying to merge, especially with their debut album coming out this year. When asked if music and jewelry-making speak to one another, the dual-creative assures its bond is a solidified place and state of consciousness:

“When I’m making the jewelry, I am using the same emotions for writing music. Pijama Land is under the sun. It’s effortless beauty, feeling of nostalgia, sad and sexiness but kind of mixed with excitement and hopefulness for the future. Feeling good about yourself, but also feeling very in tune with your emotions.”

Among the new full-range collection, natural elements make their aesthetic debut. “This one is going to be a little bit more deconstructed, and the shapes, a little bit more abstract,” says the designer. Similar styles, like the Ines Baroque necklace–a raw pearl piece consisting of perfectly imperfect shapes–from the previous collection, will carry over. New additions like raw metals and rough diamonds will be included as well. The Canadian designer is confident the upcoming collection will have something for everyone, from ultra-fem to tom-boy-chic. Gender fluidity and versatility are pivotal components the brand is excited to share.

For now, you can find Piché in her personal Pijama Land–her sun-drenched studio just as we met her. Between sips of orange wine, she’s toiling with ceramics, sketching the brand’s newest charms, or writing her own lyrics as Francoise Hardy plays gently in the background. She refuses to pay attention to trends, but her tenacity and originality prove to be a success within the US market. And while we anticipate the arrival of Deux Lions’ newest collection, we can only hope to find the Pijama Land of our own.