CITRUS

CITRUS is a Toronto jewellery store offering Canadian-made customizable sterling silver jewellery pieces like layered necklaces, morse code necklaces, gemstone beaded bracelets, and so much more.

What inspired you to start your business?

CITRUS (formerly knows as Citrus Silver) was founded in 2007 by mompreneur Karen Lamont as a way to honour and cherish the connection and bond of motherhood creating hand-stamped pendants with the names of her loved ones so she could feel close to them where ever she went. 17 years later, as a devoted customer and follower of the brand, I acquired CITRUS (www.craftedbycitrus.com) in 2024 as an exciting new chapter for me leaving a successful career the information technology industry.

Taking over CITRUS has been a dream come true, allowing me to reconnect to what I truly love and what was missing for me in the corporate world – artistic expression. With CITRUS I get to design beautifully hand-crafted and personalized jewelry keepsakes that carry deep meaning and significance. For me, this is extremely rewarding work rooted in connection, storytelling and personal expression.

How do you describe your business?

Each piece we design is hand-crafted in our Toronto studio to become a one-of-a-kind unique keepsake that carries special meaning to commemorate important milestones, precious memories, and cherished loved ones. Each personalized pendant is hand-stamped using a manual hand hammering process using metal stamps to make up letters and words. We craft primarily in sterling silver but also use yellow gold, rose gold, leather, silk and semi-precious gemstones in our designs. Our materials are sourced locally from Canadian suppliers and manufactured in Canada where possible with exception to our chains which come from Italy. All our designs are handmade in our studio and undergo a rigid quality check before they are beautifully packaged with care instructions and a hand written note so they can be shipped gift-ready to the receiver. Most of our personalized designs are made to order from our website but we do offer some ready made designs as well in our necklaces, bracelets and earrings. At this time we are an e-commerce business only but we hope to eventually have a store front in Toronto soon to display our full collection.

What’s your bestselling product & why do you think it’s so popular?

Our best selling product for the last 17 years has undoubtedly been our signature sterling silver personalized pendants which are made in house and come with a Citrus Silver proprietary stamp on the backside. Moms love them, grandmas cherish them, and husbands love their guaranteed approval.

Our personalized pendants are made in house using a C&C die cut process which makes the sterling silver extremely strong and resilient. They come available in numerous shapes and sizes to offer different styles from the extremely minimal to bolder statement necklace pieces. Each pendant is finished and buffed to a brilliant shine, ready to be personalized so they last as long as the memories do. Many of our customers state that they’ve worn their pendant necklace everyday for the last 17 years as a way to celebrate the connection each piece represents and often say that they feel naked without it.

What’s your personal favourite product?

This Mother’s Day we introduced something special called the Gratitude Box. This was a limited edition box featuring a curated selection of hand crafted goods from local Toronto – women owned small businesses. This was a beautiful way to lean into the element of connection by offering something unique and sentimental to celebrate the amazing women that shape our lives.

What’s your favourite local Toronto business?

Maylay & Co. and Brightfield Candles are two Toronto based women owned businesses we love.