Here at Seaspray Jewellery, we ensure all jewellers employed by us are at the very top of the industry and due to our exceptional work, we are multi-award winners and are very proud of these achievements. This year, we entered two unique and imaginative pieces in the 2019 Jewellers Association of Australia Australasian Jewellery Awards.

 

“Bowie” by David Mitcheson, is a stylised dagger neckpiece featuring a freeform Boulder Opal, Sugarloaf Sapphire, Diamonds and a combination of contrasting 14 Carat Yellow, White and Rose Gold. David’s inspiration for the dagger design came immediately from the shape of the freeform Boulder Opal. Subsequent thoughts led to the addition of the Sugarloaf Sapphire in the hilt to emphasise the blue/green hues and finalise the piece.

“Aurora” by Madeleine McDonald, is a tiara featuring a freeform Boulder Opal with 9 Carat White Gold supporting scrolls on either side of the centrepiece and 18 Carat Yellow, Green and Rose Gold decorative vines. The inspiration came from Madeleine’s love for all things “fantasy” - magic, dragons and even castles. “Why not make an Elvish crown for a Kingdom in a land of Fantasy?”

 

Congratulations, yet again, go to our truly talented Apprentice Jeweller, Madeleine McDonald.

On 26 March 2019, at a presentation dinner held by The Rotary Club of Woy Woy, Maddie was awarded The 2019 Pride of Workmanship Apprentice Award!

This is a prized Rotary Club Award that "recognises apprentices in the workforce who take special pride in their work; go above and beyond what is normally required in carrying out their duties; and who continually provide a high standard of service in their workplace and the community".

We're all extremely proud of Maddie ...

 ... and also hugely proud of Tori Mealor, our in-house Graphic Artist, who was also nominated in a highly competitive field for a Pride of Workmanship Award, highlighting her beautiful marketing work here including catalogues, ads, videos and most recently bringing Julie's 2018 Yearbook dream to reality!

2018

On 29 August 2018, Pearls of Australia announced the winners of the 2018 Australian Pearl Jewellery Design Masters Awards and Seaspray Valuations & Fine Jewellery are thrilled and proud to reveal that our very own apprentice jewellers, Danielle Shay and Madeleine McDonald, brought home wins!

Danielle, our Year 4 Apprentice, took out the Win in the Australian Akoya Award category for her signature piece, “Siren’s Helm”.  Danielle’s handmade ring was inspired by the various myths of mermaids, luring ships and their crews to their doom and the ability of mermaids to cry tears of pearls. The 9 and 18 carat gold ring features a spinning ship’s wheel set with a Broken Bay Akoya pearl and one shoulder of the ring is fashioned as a mermaid’s tail with scales and fin. 

Our Year 2 Apprentice, Madeleine McDonald, was also recognised and received a Highly Commended Award for her “Pearls In Full Bloom” creation, entered in the Handmade category.  Madeleine brought her vision to life of “flowers blooming to reveal their pearls” in her statement necklet.  The centrepiece bloom of 18 carat yellow and rose gold presents a South Sea Cygnet Bay pearl, extending via white gold branches to two matching smaller flowers bursting with Broken Bay Akoya pearls. 

The girls’ pieces were selected from a record 60 entries, all of extremely high calibre received from across Australia and around the world.  The pieces were judged by a panel of technical and fashion experts including Peter Keep (Director of Jewellery Training Solutions), Catherine Birch (Corporate Adviser to Jimmy Choo) and Kate Hwang (Senior Creative Designer for Pallion). 

Each piece was scored for its creativity, technical skill and the strength of featuring the Australian South Sea pearl of Cygnet Bay in WA, and Australian Akoya pearl of Broken Bay in NSW.

With Seaspray Jewellery being “The Home of Broken Bay Pearls”, both Danielle and Madeleine were motivated to design unique creations using these beautiful, locally grown, Australian Akoya pearls.    

Judge, Peter Keep, stated, “The quality of workmanship and the creativity from the competitors this year was truly outstanding, and finding our winners was an incredibly difficult task.”  We here at Seaspray Jewellery couldn’t agree more and are extraordinarily proud of Danielle and Madeleine and their commitment to excellence and creativity.