JEWELLERY:While coming from small beginnings to huge success has been very rewarding, Annoushka Ducas tells
DEIRDRE McQUILLANwhy she has returned to making jewellery in a smaller way
GOOD IDEAS OFTEN have the most unexpected consequences. When Patricia Ducas asked her 23-year-old daughter Annoushka, who had started to design jewellery, to create a gift for her clients – chefs in upmarket London restaurants to whom she supplied fish – she came up with the idea of cufflinks in the shape of a fish. For economies of scale she made more than was needed, selling 60 to her mother and the remainder to Harvey Nichols.
From such modest beginnings 14 years ago, Links of London was formed. The company became internationally successful with its light-hearted, fun, but superbly crafted silver jewellery. Three years ago, Annoushka and her husband John Ayton, a corporate lawyer, sold it for £45 million to a Greek company. The business had got too big, too corporate and she felt frustrated, she tells me in her London townhouse near Sloane Square.
A handsome, vibrant and well-travelled woman of Russian ancestry, it wasn’t long before other ideas took shape, which are about to make their debut. In August, Annoushka launches a new luxury jewellery venture in her own name. In contrast to Links, which was mostly in silver, this range will be in 18ct gold. “There’s a huge freedom in gold,” she says. “An immense freedom I didn’t have before. It is a very nice feeling not to be constrained by materials and price – that’s what I wanted. With a small company, if you have a good idea, you can do it tomorrow and I like making things happen.”
She is also reviving the idea of the parure – a suite of matching jewellery – but in a modern way. It stems from her irreverent attitude towards how jewellery should be worn in general.
“I do think an area I want to occupy is women buying jewellery for themselves at a price point that is sensible – from £150 upwards,” she says. “Jewellery is so personal and so much of what I want to do is related to wardrobe and how you dress.”
The new collection, using precious and semi-precious stones, will launch in Ireland in August. It is bold and feminine, colourful and playful, and its many references reflect her travels. “Ethiopia and India are hugely inspirational. In Guatemala it’s all about colour. Jaipur is crammed full of the most fantastic stones and ways of cutting stones – there are 90,000 people making jewellery there. It is incredible.”
Not a trained designer, she works with technicians and is a demanding taskmaster, determined to realise her ideas by pushing craftsmen to their limits. “I can’t draw, which is a blessing in one respect, but in another, a huge frustration,” she confesses. Her Links of London friendship bracelet – handmade by threading and knotting colourful yarns around each silver bar – was one such idea that took persistence and time to realise. It became one of the company’s best sellers.
Women have a particular relationship with jewellery, she believes. “By looking at a person’s jewellery you can tell so much about their life and that is the ethos behind this collection – one that grows over time. My whole thing is that you should be able to make jewellery individual to you. It is so much about how you wear it and taking the reverence out of it. It’s not made to be put in a box. It should be so tactile you want to eat it!”
One of her ideas is the impact of layering necklaces or rings, one on top of the other. She can talk eloquently about the softness of emeralds or the power of inclusions in stones rather than optical perfection. One lovely gold bracelet flecked with diamonds started with a leaf in her garden. “You put the skeleton on the wax, then roll it in l8ct gold and then stud with diamonds. It is really important that things feel wonderful. The organza bracelets are made from hammered gold and silver using silver sand. It is very much about craft and workmanship and real attention to detail.”
How does she describe her style? “I am quite relaxed and slightly irreverent – I am very informal – whether it’s jewellery, entertaining, dressing or whatever, I’m unbuttoned. Our house was always open, the more the merrier, and very inclusive. Jewellery should be like that, too.”
She is also collaborating with young up-and-coming jewellers and 30 per cent of the collection will include these smaller designers.
“It is very rewarding to help them and to educate customers about new things. My philosophy is, let’s give them a platform so people can see what they are doing.”
She has just returned with her husband and children from a visit to El Salvador to work in an orphanage. It’s a close family and a close business partnership. “I love working with John – it gives me this huge sense of freedom. There is no one-upmanship. For me whatever you do has to be fun – that is absolutely crucial. And it is so nice to be small again.”
Annoushka’s collection will debut in Brown Thomas, Dublin on August 22nd. See www.annoushka-jewellery.com