Creating heirlooms
Among the many pieces of art on the walls of Vanessa Stowers’ home overlooking Christchurch City from the Cashmere Hills hangs a painting of her first shop on High Street.
This one stands out. It is a chapter of her life that she stumbled upon in a gallery almost two decades after she opened her business on the central city street. It wasn’t sought out – it came to her. A way to tell her story to her children.
Stories are important to Vanessa. She recalls the creativity of her childhood, afternoons spent making peg dolls with her grandmother and crafting with her friends. Through these experiences, the seeds were sown for her future as a jeweller and designer. And what she aims to tell at her business Filigree.
“I’ve always made things in one way or another. I’ve always been a maker.”
After originally majoring in metalwork during her tertiary studies, she was working for herself and based in one of the Art Centre’s chemistry block’s famous ‘glass-windowed studios’. Following this, she took on managerial positions with high-end jewellers in the city.
“I learned the two ends of the business; then I thought I would go out and start my own business.”
She then opened Filigree on High Street and moved to a new premise just down the street around a year later.
Vanessa was a bit of a rarity, with the jewellery trade of the time being a bit of “a gentleman’s game”, and it was uncommon for a jewellery business to be owned by a woman.
“It was nice for me to go out on my own and be a businesswoman in the jewellery trade. I’ve always had women jewellers as well, which is quite unusual because there’s not a huge pool of them.”
Vanessa opened her current location following the Canterbury earthquakes.
Filigree’s flagship boutique store is now on Colombo Street in Sydenham. Here, in a stunning ‘extension of her personality’, she and her team of consultants, jewellers, and gem setters create and continue stories for their wearers.
They craft bespoke engagement rings, wedding bands, and designer jewellery throughout New Zealand and worldwide.
In order to create a piece that matches the wearer and their narrative, a design approach for bespoke jewellery begins with a consultation, where Vanessa takes her time to get to know the client.
This is followed by several sketches; computer-aided design renders can be made for clients to get a three-dimensional perspective.
From there, it will be taken to the jeweller, but the wearer can continue to be involved. This is made easier by the fact they have a workshop on-site.
“We’re really lucky that we’ve got the workshop on-site. So there’s nothing lost in translation from what you’ve talked to me about. Those small nuances are important because as it is something so little, its own artwork, every tiny detail makes quite a big difference.”
Vanessa believes this bespoke approach and the time they take to understand the wearer make them stand out.
“It is really important because jewellery, especially rings, they are the one thing you constantly wear. You change clothes and shoes daily, but jewellery is part of your identity.”