SILVER SIMPLICITY

AS ALWAYS, IT AMAZES ME JUST WHO IS OUT THERE IN OUR REGION, CREATING. I WAS FORTUNATE TO RECENTLY MEET AND SPEND SOME TIME WITH LOCAL JEWELLERY DESIGNER, JULIE EYNON. FROM HER TAURANGA HOME SHE DESIGNS AND MAKES A STUNNING RANGE OF STERLING SILVER JEWELLERY.

Story: Pip Crombie - Photography: Quinn OConnell

JULIE EYNON’S WORK IS ORIGINAL, BEAUTIFULLY CRAFTED AND EXCLUSIVELY STOCKED AROUND THE COUNTRY. IT IS THE TYPE OF JEWELLERY WHICH MULTI-TASKS IN THAT IT CAN OFTEN BE WORN IN DIFFERENT WAYS. IT IS ALSO THE TYPE OF JEWELLERY YOU COVET. TAKE HEART - YOU TOO COULD OWN A PIECE.

In the late eighties, Julie was living in Sydney and course in Randwick, Sydney - Contemporary Jewellery Design and Fabrication. “There was nothing on offer of this kind in New Zealand, you really had to take a more general arts course,” she recalls. “The tutors on this course were largely German, it was based around a German movement actually. The skill level and creative input was very high.” Julie thrived on the course, which was a precursor to a degree, but soon found herself back in New Zealand with a young daughter and being a wife and mother took over the intervening years. But she always found time for a creative outlet and in fact when she re-trained in IT, went into the web design field as a means of fostering her creative bent.

 

“YOU JUST COULDN’T MAKE MONEY OUT OF JEWELLERY MAKING THEN - IT WAS MORE THE NICHE OF YOUR TYPICAL, STARVING ARTIST,” SHE LAUGHED. BUT SOME YEARS ON JULIE FOUND HERSELF TAKING STOCK OF HER LIFE AND FOUND THE IT WORLD WAS NOT ENOUGH FOR HER.

“I realised my original training was what I wanted to pursue. If I didn’t do it now, I never would and then I would never know if I could have succeeded. I just couldn’t let that slide, so I jumped in and am one of those lucky people whose passion is also their job. It really helps when you do something you love from
8.30 until whenever every day!”

SIMPLICITY & APPEAL

Julie’s work is striking. She does not overpolish or apply a lot of patinas and it is recognisable for its simplicity and appeal. The pieces are often multi-tasking - she will attach a clip that allows a necklace to be shortened and worn with a different neckline, for example. In this way you are actually buying more than one piece of jewellery. Julie largely buys New Zealand sourced sterling silver which generally comes from Australia, though recycled or refined silver is something she tries to incorporate whenever possible. Very few ranges of jewellery are completely hand made, though many profess to be.

Rest assured that any piece of Julie Eynon jewellery is! The silver arrives in sheets or wire coils and Julie undertakes the laborious task of winding it to size, soldering, cutting and manipulating her chosen medium into workable pieces, a process known as fabrication.

It is a very involved process and she moves between her workbenches taking the raw material through a variety of processes in order to arrive at the stunning end result. Her downstairs workroom has her unmistakable feminine flair and attention to detail and doubles as the space from which she runs her business and meets with clients and stockists. Growing up on a Waikato farm with three brothers, Julie spent a lot of time with her family following their father’s passion taking part in gun club competitions. While her brothers “had all the fun” and were allowed to be in on the action in the traps, Julie and her mother spent time in the lunch room, preparing and serving the long lunch which always accompanied the day out. “I have vivid memories of the women of that era,” she recalls.

“They were always completely made up - red lips and nails, coiffed hair, high heels, a big piece of signature jewellery and groomed to perfection. This whole scene really inspired me as did the huge amount of medals and cups my father won and brought home.” In fact her first collection was based around this, a contemporary take on hammered medals featuring in the range. Her current range is centred around the concept of protection, inspired by the grave surrounds in our more historical cemeteries. The idea of family protection and care of loved ones at all stages - even after death - lends itself well to the directional pieces she makes. While Julie does do private commissions, her work is for sale in retail outlets around the country.

She chooses to be stocked more significantly in carefully selected fashion stores and galleries where the owners are inclined to help with styling and the wearing of jewellery. While it is an identifiable range, it is also very individual and has an element of delicacy rarely associated with silver jewellery. I recommend you investigate further.

 

For stockist information or to contact Julie:
www.julieeynon.co.nz
ask@julieeynon.co.nz