Kiwi jewellers receive royal treatment

The owners of Wellington-based Tory & Ko, Victoria Taylor and Kirstin O’Brien, contacted staff at Kensington Palace about providing jewellery for Kate Middleton to wear during the royal tour in New Zealand.  

 

O’Brien told Jeweller they were thrilled after receiving news that four of their jewellery pieces had been selected, but they had not been prepared for the level of media attention – both locally and internationally – the request had created. 

 

“We have had unprecedented enquiries and hits on our website and Tory and I have been in a ‘media bubble’ for the past five days – it has been very exciting,” O’Brien said.

 

The pieces selected included: two pairs of 9-carat gold, sterling silver and seed pearl detail earrings from the Pretty collection – one featuring blue topaz and one citrine – which were inspired by royalty from the Victorian era; and an 18-carat white gold, cultured pearl and diamond earring and necklace set from the jeweller’s Bespoke collection. 

 

While Taylor, a jewellery designer and GIA certified gemmologist, acknowledged the store’s “very loyal following” in Wellington, she welcomed the wide international interest that Tory & Ko had received since the announcement.

 

“It is such a wonderful opportunity to be able to showcase our jewellery collections to new people and share in everyone’s love of fine jewellery,” she said.

 

When asked if Tory & Ko had any plans for expansion in New Zealand or Australia, O’Brien responded, “At this stage we are focussing on fulfilling orders to our new overseas customers and continuing to offer our existing customers the service they have grown to love. This will involve some business growth opportunities and we would definitely be interested in expanding the business further in the future.”

 

Although Taylor and O’Brien have enjoyed the publicity that had been generated, they said they were still waiting with bated breath to see their designs being worn by the Duchess. 

 

“As yet, we haven’t seen the Duchess of Cambridge wearing any of our jewellery and there were no guarantees that she would…although we have been keeping our eyes on all her appearances thus far,” O’Brien commented. “We are so honoured that the palace selected our pieces, and it would be the icing on the cake if she did actually wear our jewellery while she was in New Zealand.”

 

The New Zealand segment of the royal tour commenced on 7 April and will continue until 16 April when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will travel to Australia. The royal tour will conclude on 25 April.

 

Jewellery items by Tory & Ko have also previously been worn by celebrities at the 2013 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards and the Academy Awards.

 

With two store locations, the business offers a range of jewellery made from gold, silver, precious gemstones and pearls. It specialises in engagement and wedding ring designs and also provides jewellery valuations and repairs and restorations.