Just Jewellery

The term 'jewellery store' or 'jeweller' evokes an old man hunched over a small workbench at the back of a quiet shop filled with bland and kitschy pieces of gold, white gold and silver rope chains with simple pendants and predictable cuts. Or a mall kiosk with minors selling stock discount engagement rings and birthstone necklaces for minimum wage. Head to a jewellery store selling natural stone handcrafted jewellery, and you will likely find yourself in a typical tourist spot among hockey jerseys and totem poles or a rock shop housing essentially random and indiscriminate piles of bulk-made wearable (wearable being a relative term) stone creations.

Once upon a time, in the days of all those classical empires you had to study in grade 11 history, jewellery was made to tailor: intricate, beautiful and made for life-long wear, even entombment. Never as much as now has the mainstream jewellery market been so saturated with plastic and stock mould-poured necklaces, bracelets and (yawn) chandelier earrings. It's a difficult trap to navigate; blame the GAP or H&M, and certainly mass-boutique stores like ALDO, GUESS and BEDO. Shopping, for many, includes creating a complete look, and many stores offer mediocre versions of everything rather than specialize in one type of item.

Source : official website