Our Story

Hi there, I’m Carmen, the person behind the collection.

Jewellery has been part of my life for most of my adult years. I’ve spent years learning about it, making it, designing it, selling it and, somewhere along the way, becoming completely fascinated by the stories behind the pieces.

So when the opportunity came along to take over the contents of a huge storage locker filled with vintage and retro jewellery from a retired jewellery wholesaler, I didn’t have to think twice.

Walking into that storage locker for the first time was like discovering an Aladdin’s cave. There were boxes everywhere, filled with jewellery that had been tucked away for decades. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to find next.

I instantly fell in love with the Hollywood glamour of vintage jewellery, the old-world days of clip-on earrings, the charm of retro fashion and, of course, the glorious excess of the 80s. The quality and workmanship fascinated me. The weight of the pieces, the settings, the metalwork, the crystals and all those tiny details were so different from much of the jewellery being mass-produced today.

I found myself constantly thinking, they really don’t make them like they used to!

The Story Behind the Jewellery

The jewellery in my store is genuine vintage New Old Stock (NOS) from the collection of a retired jewellery wholesaler. In other words, these pieces were made decades ago but were never sold or worn.

Because they are no longer being manufactured, quantities are genuinely limited. Sometimes I might have several of a particular design, sometimes only one or two. Once they are gone, they really are gone, unless I happen to uncover another forgotten box somewhere in the storage locker!

And yes, that actually happens.

There was simply too much jewellery for me to bring home and sort through all at once, so I started bringing back a few boxes at a time. I still work my way through the collection this way, opening boxes, researching pieces, photographing them and adding new discoveries to the store.

Even after all this time, I never quite know what I’m going to uncover.

One of my favourite parts of all this is that I am still in contact with the gentleman who originally wholesaled the jewellery. During his career, he travelled overseas several times a year on buying trips, sourcing jewellery and meeting manufacturers and suppliers around the world.

Whenever I uncover something interesting, I’ll often show it to him and ask what he remembers about it. It’s amazing how a single piece of jewellery can trigger a memory. What starts as a question about a pair of earrings or a brooch can turn into a long conversation about a buying trip he took decades ago, where he was when he found the piece, the people he dealt with and what the jewellery trade was like at the time.

We talk about where pieces were made, where he bought them, how they were manufactured and the materials and components that were used. He remembers which styles were popular, which designs became best sellers, why he chose certain pieces for his range and the types of customers who bought them.

Sometimes the jewellery brings back memories of the places themselves and the experiences he had while travelling. I love hearing those stories. There’s something quite special about opening a box that may not have been touched for decades and then hearing the story of the journey that brought its contents to Australia in the first place.

Those conversations have given me a wonderful first-hand connection to the history of the collection. I'm not simply pulling an old pair of earrings or a brooch from a box. Sometimes I'm uncovering part of a much bigger story: where it came from, how it was made, why he chose it and the journey it took before eventually finding its way to me.

And now, after all those years tucked away, these pieces finally have the chance to begin another chapter with someone new.

Giving Old Jewellery a New Life

My love of vintage jewellery also goes beyond collecting and selling it.

I hate seeing beautiful old jewellery discarded simply because one part is damaged or a matching piece has disappeared over the years.

Whenever I can, I rescue those pieces.

I repair, repurpose and reimagine damaged or mismatched vintage jewellery, combining original vintage components with new elements to create something wearable again. A bead from a broken necklace, an orphaned earring or a beautiful vintage component that might otherwise have been forgotten can become part of something completely new.

It means a little piece of the past gets to continue its story rather than ending up in the bin.

And the Collection Keeps Growing...

Although the storage locker is at the heart of my story, it has also opened the door to a wonderful network of people from the jewellery trade.

Through my friendship with the retired jewellery wholesaler whose collection started this whole adventure, I’m often put in touch with other retired jewellery wholesalers from his time in the industry. Many of them still have boxes of unsold vintage stock tucked away from decades ago, sometimes pieces that have barely seen the light of day since they were originally packed away.

Being able to uncover these forgotten collections has allowed me to expand far beyond that original storage locker and bring together an incredibly varied range of jewellery. Different wholesalers specialised in different styles, eras and designs, so each collection I discover brings something new, from classic and elegant pieces to bold retro designs and wonderfully quirky finds.

I also continue to source interesting vintage and retro jewellery from Australia and around the world, so the collection is constantly changing and evolving.

New pieces are added regularly, and because so much of what I sell is genuine vintage and New Old Stock, there is never any guarantee that I'll be able to find the same piece again. Some designs may have been sitting untouched in a box for decades, with only a handful left in existence.

That's part of the fun. I never quite know what I'm going to uncover next.

Today, pieces from my collection find new homes with vintage lovers, collectors and people simply looking for something a little different. I also have the pleasure of supplying vintage jewellery to film, television, theatre, stylists and period productions, where genuine pieces from another era can become part of telling a completely new story.

I particularly love the thought of a piece that was manufactured decades ago, sold to a wholesaler, packed away and forgotten in a storage locker eventually being rediscovered and worn again, sometimes even on screen recreating the very era in which it was originally made.

So have a wander through the collection and visit often, because I'm always adding something new from another box, another discovery or another vintage treasure I've managed to track down.

And if you see something you absolutely love, my advice is not to leave it sitting in your cart for too long. With genuine vintage, once it's gone, it may really be gone for good.

Unless, of course, I find another box I missed. ✨