Photos courtesy Mindham Fine Jewellery
A league of its own
While Magical Woodland celebrates a small glimpse into the inner workings of Mindham’s creative process and what inspires him, there’s also much to say about what sets Mindham and his entire operation apart.
Mindham’s ability to express a high calibre of technical and design skill while remaining committed to creative integrity, is the key to his success. “People like to engage in creativity and we do that here,” says Mindham. “We don’t just make jewellery, we create it. We’re not just buying and putting it in a case like a commodity.”
Unlike so many designers and retailers, Mindham Fine Jewellery render designs, manufactures, evaluates, and sells jewellery in-house under one roof.
We affectionately call this the factory,” says Mindham. “I like to share what goes on; not all clients get to go down into the workshop, but some do because they’re curious. This kind of fully integrated production facility is unusual for a jewellery store, but here we are.”
Most retailers buy products at trade shows and bring them into the store and/or some jewellers have individual benches and will buy mounts for castings and put individual stones in to create their pieces.
For Mindham, this production process and commitment to creative excellence is also what takes jewellery from a commodity to an art form. And according to the designer, “When you make jewellery artful, you attract an entirely different type of clientele,” he says. “We’re about creating meaningful things and opening that experience up to the client,” says Mindham.
Meaning matters
As the jewellery industry continues to evolve and attempts to capture the millennial market, Mindham says he is fortunate to understand what millennials care about: experience, meaning, and quality.
“They don’t care about a two-carat diamond,” he explains. “Millennials care about where the diamond came from, who made it, how it was crafted, and what the energy behind it is.”
Mindham continues to make ‘meaning’ the mission of his work. “I want to make people understand and appreciate the story behind things; meaning is what our culture and clientele are hungry for,” he says. “If customers understand the piece of jewellery and see the impetus behind it, they no longer commoditize it; they see the value we’ve added to the metals and jewels because really we’re actually adding value through our creativity,” says Mindham. “We’re making heirlooms, and they aren’t disposable. Our jewellery carries memories and moments.”
As Mindham Fine Jewellery looks towards the future and upcoming collections, trunk shows, and company expansion plans, “It takes years of discipline to keep building and building,” says Mindham. “It’s still what we’re doing today, building; this anniversary is a nice moment along the way, but we still have a long way to go.”
