The wearer becomes the maker
introducing Coveted Jewellery by Gemma Miller.
"Nothing beats being able to say that you made your own piece of fine jewellery when asked by an admirer."
Coveted Jewellery is the brainchild of Wellington-based artisan jeweller Gemma Miller, a traditionally-trained goldsmith with 15 years of experience working within the jewellery industry in both New Zealand and overseas. Embracing her specialty; making meaningful and timeless pieces that are bespoke to each and every individual, was where the idea for Coveted began.
Here at Coveted we love the idea of the wearer becoming the maker – offering anyone the chance to have a hand, literally, in creating a completely unique, sentimental piece of jewellery that means something very special, and which reflects the wearer’s style.
Celebrating storytelling, memory-making, artisan craft, sustainable packaging and recycled precious metals, our team focuses on bringing the wearers’ creativity to the fore by making unique pieces of jewellery which ooze style and sentiment. No two pieces will ever be the same.
Meet Gemma
Gemma Miller – Coveted’s Founder and Creative Director – lives in Wellington, New Zealand with her husband and two daughters.
“As a little girl growing up in rural New Zealand I was always busy creating and exploring. I inherited my love of practical and creative endeavours from my Grandfather who was an engineer, and I see these traits emerging in my own young daughters already. I remember admiring my grandmother’s jewellery and how she would share the family histories and stories that related to each piece of her fine jewellery collection. These memories are mixed together in my mind with the smell of her lipstick, soft skin and warm hugs. Objects in our lives carry this sentimentality so beautifully.
Becoming a jeweller was always at the back of my mind, and I grew fascinated with the history and relatively unaltered technology involved in working with precious metals. The pull towards goldsmithing caught up to me in my 20’s when I retrained to become a manufacturing goldsmith under Peter Minturn in Auckland in 2010.
In the following years I worked with a number of well known New Zealand jewellery brands before doing the same in the U.K for a while. I gained wide exposure to many different styles and methods of traditional jewellery making that added to my own skillset and burgeoning style. I also gained an awareness of what jewellery meant to people. I began to see that people wanted to be more involved in the process; more than simply helping to design their bespoke jewellery with the jeweller.
On my return to New Zealand in 2015 I found my place within the Wellington contemporary jewellery community where I developed my personal brand – GG Jewellery – and I became a resident and jewellery making tutor at Workspace Studios. I was also a co-founder of The Makers Jewellery Gallery (now known as Mason and Collins).
During this time I began to become more attuned to people’s relationship with jewellery – realising that when people were involved in the making of their own pieces, that there was a deeper value attributed to those pieces. Heirloom-worthy. Memories. Moments.
And that’s where lost-wax casting came into the fore. The process involves techniques for recycling precious metals that have gone unchanged for centuries. Gold and silver jewellery has shaped countries, cultures and family histories, and here we are reincarnating past pieces into new memories that capture a moment forever. I am eternally inspired by the journey that the silver and gold has taken before it is cast into its present iteration, carnation, or embodiment.
‘For me, Coveted Jewellery is all about creating jewellery with real meaning that can be worn and enjoyed everyday. It’s about including the wearer in the making process and it’s about keeping precious memories alive.
I hope you enjoy creating your own unique piece of Coveted jewellery with us. We couldn’t do what we do without you.’
Love Gemma – Coveted
All it takes is your desire to create something special.
© 2023 All Rights Reserved