Exploring Life & Business with Leigh-Anne Williams of Cahve

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leigh-Anne Williams.

Hi Leigh-Anne, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
This company is the story of myself and my husband. We met at a hostel in Iceland and stayed in touch. We were able to scrape together enough documentation for a UK visa and he came to live with me in Scotland and later England.
We always planned on coming back the US. During COVID we came over to visit family and decided to stay. My husband was friends with the people who had started Cahve (then Experience CAST) in the UK and we were joking with them about starting it in the US. Then we stopped joking and started talking seriously. We bought a crappy camper in the US and mulled the idea over as we traveled around the country. We decided to put down roots and go for it. Within the year we had the company up and running and our first child was born. Since then we’ve seen the Cahve creative community continue to grow. We’ve just dipped our toe into doing in-person events and the feedback has been amazing. We’ve got lots of ideas about what’s next and I think 2026 will be a big year for Cahve.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
No. We’ve struggled with a few things. One is that we’re both somewhat introverted, behind-the-camera people and we are now filming ourselves for social content as well as running in-person events. It’s a little scary but a little fun at the same time. There has also been the balancing act of having kids with running a business, both take as much time as you can give and you still want to give more.
On a more practical note we used the same Heirloom wax (our soft wax fingerprint impression kit) as the UK and it did not handle the heat well. We had one woman from Las Vegas who had to try 3 times to get us wax that wasn’t a puddle. We’ve tweaked the formula and provided better instructions and it’s so much better now, but it is occasionally still sometimes an issue during the summer heatwaves.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Cahve lets people make professional-grade jewelry from home. We sell kits with high quality tools and provide casting services so creators can focus on the creative part. We saw that most jewelry kits were of low quality and so were the results.
We wanted to bring the casting workshop to people and make it accessible. We also have a unique online resource called “The Makers Table” that gives people tips and tricks to help them create their dream piece. But also provides step-by-step tutorials to help you if you’re stuck for inspiration.

The Heirloom kit was a big deal for us. We had a lot of creators who felt intimidated by the Jewelry Making Kit, they wanted something special and unique but didn’t like the idea of carving wax. We created the Heirloom kit to address those wants and provide a quick and easy way to have a truly unique pendant. All the customer has to do is press the soft wax to finger or paw and it captures the detail of a loved one! It’s the perfect everyday piece that’s also super sentimental.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I grew up in Scotland with two older brothers. Scotland will always have a special place in my heart and one of the great joys of this company is the flexibility we have to go back to visit my family. I’ve always been interested by history and the objects that make their way to the present. I studied archeology in university and went on to work as an archeology curator for several museums in Scotland and England. I was the person going through the boxes that came in from the dig sites and identifying and cataloguing them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cahve.com
• Instagram: cahve.usa
• Facebook: cahve.usa