Four Caribbean jewellery designers will be taking their collections to Birmingham in September as they attend leading UK tradeshow ‘Autumn Fair’.
Jamaica’s Rêve Jewellery & Accessories, St Lucia’s Designs by Nadia, Trinidad and Tobago’s AYA STYLER, and Dominica’s Gisselle Mancebo Jewelry, are all exhibiting at the top retail event with the support of the Caribbean Export Development Agency and the European Union.
Autumn Fair will give these Caribbean creatives a chance to present their individual brand story, whilst interacting with major buyers and retailers from around the world who are looking for the next big thing in jewellery.
Rêve Jewellery & Accessories will be sharing its authentically unique, trailblazing, and contemporary line of couture jewellery, which merges elements of goldsmithing techniques and the legacy of craft.
Founded in 2006 by sibling entrepreneurs, Teasea and Duane Bennett, Rêve is an award-winning company based in Jamaica which offers ready-to-wear and custom-made jewellery.
Rêve’s flagship store, which opened in Kingston in 2009, is not only a place where you can find their revolutionary, handmade jewellery line, but also provides a bricks and mortar location for other Jamaican and regional accessories makers to sell their clothing, bags, and footwear.
Rêve’s co-founder Duane is a highly qualified and skilled goldsmith who is known as a trendsetter in his field. He is also currently a guest professor at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, where he is training the next generation of Caribbean jewellery designers.
Over the past decade, Rêve has built a reputation for excellence and developed a strong and trusted brand image, based on exceptional customer service. It is a registered and trademarked company (including industrial) and currently exports to the Caribbean, US, Canada, UK, Germany, and France.
Teasea and Duane are ambitious and aim to create a long-lasting legacy business. They plan to elevate Rêve into a globally recognised Caribbean jewellery brand that is known for high quality, bespoke, and original designs.
Caribbean jewellery designer Nadia Jabour will also be attending the Autumn Fair to highlight her brand ‘Designs by Nadia’. Originally from Guyana, Nadia began designing jewellery from her home in Canada in 2007 and continued producing her pieces after relocating to St Lucia in 2010.
Designs by Nadia offers one-of-a-kind necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, created from indigenous and naturally occurring material such as fish scales, seeds, wood, sea glass, stones, leather, and metals. Most of the material used in Nadia’s jewellery is sourced from islands around the region.
Nadia initially built her brand through hosting pop-up events around St Lucia and at local hotels. She also created a website to showcase her creations and grew her social media presence on Facebook and Instagram. Nadia’s jewellery has been sold to customers in Barbados, Trinidad, Guyana, Jamaica, Canada, the US, and the UK.
‘Designs by Nadia’ is available at Nadia’s shop (Island Mix) in St Lucia where buyers can also get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her production process. Two local hotels also offer Nadia’s jewellery to international guests.
Nadia says her jewellery attracts a varied clientele who are looking for bold statement pieces to complement their outfits, as well as those who are fascinated by the uniqueness of the designs, and the material they are constructed from, especially the fish scale selection.
The AYA STYLER (aka AYA) accessories brand originates from Trinidad and Tobago. Aya designs and makes retail-ready earrings, necklaces, anklets, and bracelets from high quality materials such as cultured pearls, wood, shells, rose quartz, and jade.
AYA STYLER offer clients a timeless feel by fusing classic, vintage looks with international and island trends. The brand’s Caribbean influence can be seen throughout its product range in the textures and colours, as well as in its marketing and promotion material, which utilises paradisical imagery.
As a female-led business, AYA STYLER is focused on women’s empowerment and development. Its clientele includes women of all ages, but it is especially popular with fashion-loving millennials who are looking for jewellery that is uniquely flavoured with tropical undertones and suitable for every occasion.
The AYA STYLER brand is gradually evolving into the largest distributor of locally made fashion accessories in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a well-respected label that is known for its exceptional shopping experiences, affordable prices, and assortment of pieces.
Gisselle Mancebo Jewelry is a high-end Dominican brand established in 2007.
Gisselle trained as an industrial engineer before becoming a jewellery designer “out of passion and conviction”.
She adds: “Since I was little, I had a great admiration for the world of jewellery, crafts, and fashion, because my maternal grandmother Gisela would adorn my neck with beautiful pearl necklaces and semi-precious stone chokers. Ever since then I have been delirious about exotic, different, unique pieces.”
Gisselle started off making jewellery for family and friends, but as word spread and the orders kept coming in, she realised that her part-time hobby was really her lifelong calling.
Gisselle is driven by a desire to add Caribbean character to the commercialisation of high-quality jewellery pieces and to share a slice of Dominica with every one of her clients. Her brand embodies the art of exclusivity while fulfilling its main objective to lift its Caribbean roots to the highest level.
Every Gisselle Mancebo Jewelry item is born out of the wealth of natural resources in Dominica, utilising materials such as larimar, Dominican Amber, cow horn, and wood which gives customers a product line that is truly authentic as well as sustainable and environmentally responsible.
As Giselle’s brand has grown over the past 15 years, she has not lost her love for making showstopping earrings, necklaces and bracelets, or her determination to learn from the continuous cycle of experimenting, failing, and starting over to produce the most striking jewellery possible.
