As part of LoA’s Focus on Africa’s Women Jewellery Designers this month, we spoke to Janet Pulford, the Founder and Creative Director of South African company, Gemboree, about her current collection, its design inspiration, and what customers can look forward to in the coming weeks.
LoA recently had the pleasure of chatting to Janet Pulford about the inspiration behind her newly launched Autumn collection.
The month of May sees South Africa celebrating Mother’s Day, traditionally a busy time for jewellers and families seek out those precious gifts to give to the woman they most love in their lives. Tell us a little about the collection you will be promoting for Mother’s Day and that will appeal to all women across the country.
Gemboree has some wonderful large stones at the moment that create quite an impact for the wearer, as they are incorporated into our bold design pieces. Something particularly special this month for our Mother’s Day collection is our range of jewellery pieces incorporating Pink Agate - a wonderful stone to look at and to wear. We also have some beautiful pieces which celebrate the colours of our Amethysts and Rubies, not to mention our jewellery pieces which use a host of semi-precious stones. But for our Mothers Day collection, we particularly chose those very feminine coloured stones, focusing on the lilacs, the purples and the pinks. Our designs this month are celebrating the necklace and we have a wide variety of beautiful elegant pieces on offer, from short necklaces made from sterling silver and linking in the semi-precious stones to really celebrate their colour and lustre; to the longer, elegant and bold evening pieces incorporating pearls and a range of other semi-precious stones.
What makes the new Gemboree collection so appealing for Mother’s Day, and indeed every other day of the year?
The new collection will appeal to all those women who love contemporary bold styles and a real sense of elegance, and are looking for jewellery pieces that will enhance their own natural style.
Gemboree is known for using real artisan craftsmanship to create its beautiful jewellery pieces - tell us a little more about this handcrafted approach.
We have a small but very talented group of women artisans who make up each piece by hand individually, all located within the Johannesburg area of South Africa. Interestingly, these women not only bring their craftsmanship to Gemboree, but also their cultural design influences when they are making the pieces, all of which adds to the uniqueness of our jewellery.
As you are now heading into Autumn in South Africa, are you inspired by some of the changing colours in the landscape and your choice of semi-precious stones to use in your new forthcoming collection?
Actually, our new Autumn collection does use some of the colours and influences of the changing season. For example, the changing colours of the leaves on the trees outside have influenced a number of stones we are using, for example the Labradorite, Smoky Quartz, and Olive Agate. Also, again reflecting nature, we are incorporating Jade into our collection this season, in particular for our small beaded necklace pieces, and also the green faceted peridot, a semi-precious stone which is so beautiful. So you will see in this new collection, our thoughts are turning to the warmer colours of Autumn in terms of our semi-precious stone selections for our pieces - the reds, the oranges, the carnelian, and also the greens reflecting the leaves of the trees and the shrubs outside. So it really is a collection inspired and influenced by the colours of Autumn.
Gemboree’s new Autumn collection will be available to view online at the Gemboree website http://www.gemboreeshop.com from the end of the first week of May, and Janet will be showcasing the Mother’s Day collection the weekend of the second week of May. You can also read Janet’s great blog from the world of Gemboree http://www.gemboreeshop.com/blog