5 minute read
Jewellery
A RareGem
THERE’S STILL GOLD IN THEM THAR HILLS, AND BATHURST GOLDSMITH JOHN FOX USES IT TO CRAFT UNIQUE AND TIMELESS PIECES.
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As conscious consumers, we like our food to be locally grown, sustainably farmed and fair trade, but what about our jewellery? With child labour, conflict diamonds and environmental havoc just some of the well-documented and dire consequences of the international gold and gemstone trade, it’s refreshing to find ethical Australian jewellery sourced and handmade right here in our region.
Bathurst goldsmith and manufacturing jeweller John Fox teams with local fossickers, gem cutters and lapidary clubs to unearth regional gold and gemstones for his bespoke creations. The one-time saddler and avionics technician turned his crafty hands to jewellery making many years ago, after he came under the influence of master carver and sculptor Hape Kiddle.
“I’ve always been very good with my hands and developed an interest in jewellery when my friend Hape taught me how to carve bone and make basic pieces,” recalls John, who operates under the name Fox Artistic Creations. Time at Fairfield TAFE in Melbourne learning jewellery manufacturing further steered his career path, but it is John’s innate ability and artistic sensibilities that shine through in his work.
“As a child I was very curious about how things worked and I’ve always had the ability to be able to look at something, dissect it in my head and know how it goes back together,” he explains.
Intent on keeping traditional artisan skills alive, John eschews the modern trend for mass production. “The jewellery industry is moving towards designing things on CAD [Computer-Aided Design], using 3D printers and sending it off to get cast, and a lot of traditional skills are disappearing,” he says.
While John admits technology is a valuable tool (he recently purchased a laser welder to assist with repairs), he insists computers can never replace hand skills that have been passed down over thousands of years: “It takes over half a lifespan of doing things with your hands to hone those skills. Knowing how to use and control your tools, and being comfortable with all the elements – fire, air, earth and water – all come into it when you are forging out any sort of metal.”
And when the metal you are working comes from just down the road, it also becomes personal. John sources the majority of his materials locally, including gold from fossickers, panners and re-sellers in Hill End, hub of the 1880s New South Wales gold rush. At the height of the boom, the picturesque little town, located on the outskirts of Bathurst, was home to over 10,000 fortune seekers. Now a retreat for artists and day-trippers, Hill End is almost a ghost town but gold is still being found in and around its undulating hills and spent tailings. “Whenever council runs a grader over a dirt road in Hill End, you can bet there’ll be someone following it with a metal detector picking up something,” laughs John.
Gemstones are also in great supply across the region, with John revealing that Oberon is a major source of spinel, zircon and sapphires. “The sapphires vary in colour between brilliant blue and green,” he says. “Native Dog Creek, near Black Springs, is known for its green sapphires.”
According to John, Australia is “awash with sapphires” – though not all of them are gem quality: “Practised fossickers can hold a stone up to the light and see how clear it is. Quality stones are very clean with minimal inclusions. The all-important thing is getting light in and out of a stone to make it sparkle in jewellery.”
John is well aware of the unethical practices of the international jewel trade. “I’m very conscious of the conditions which a lot of stones are mined in. If I am going to work with diamonds, for example, I will rarely use anything other than Australian argyle diamonds. We certainly have enough beautiful stones in Australia not to need to go overseas,” he explains.
“It is important for people to source local products and not ship things half-way round the world or make things from components that are mined on the other side of the world,” says John emphatically. “We need to get back to doing things on a local level. I’m just trying to do my bit.”
This includes remodelling existing jewellery by reusing stones and materials to make new and unique pieces, and upholding high standards of quality craftsmanship so Fox Artistic Creations pieces will be treasured as heirlooms.
“If a customer wants to commission a piece, I try to get as much of their input as possible because that way they really own the piece – not just physically but because they’ve had a hand in its design. It’s not like just walking into a shop and buying something; they have helped create a piece of art that they can pass down to their kids with real sentimental significance,” John elaborates. “Being able to inherit something from your mother or grandmother because it was made properly and has lasted is very important,” he adds. “We need the longevity that quality craftsmanship provides because personal items that are passed down tell our story and provide a link to our ancestors, and to the makers of the piece.”
Creatively, John says he is inspired by natural form, referencing shapes used in the past by renowned Danish silversmith Georg Jensen and one of his most famous designers, Swedish master jeweller Vivianna Torun Bülow-Hübe, known professionally as Torun.
“Great designers influence others far beyond their own lifespan,” says John. “Timelessness, not fashion, is important to me and those eternal shapes of nature are wonderful inspiration. I like to be able to create unusual and spectacular one-offs – individual pieces for individuals, not mass production for the masses.”
Most days John can be found in his workshop, located in the back garden of his Bathurst home and open by appointment only. His beautiful work is also waiting to be discovered at Bathurst Regional Art Gallery and Tablelands Artists Co-operative Gallery. BML
foxartisticcreations.com
