HELENE RAVLICH
Local beauty: Jaime Ridge for Lindi Kingi Designs Poring over a selection of her own jewellery designs finally made flesh, Jaime Ridge is clearly one happy woman. The collection, simply bearing her name and the name of her artistic collaborator, Point Chevalier-based designer Lindi Kingi, is first and foremost inspired by Jaime’s Armenian heritage on the side of her father. The range is called Forella - a nod to the elegance and beauty of her late great grandmother Ella - and is a riot of the delicate and unique. It began with a piece based around an evil-eye motif, which was inspired by a tiny charm her father’s Sydney-based family gave her when she was born. “It’s something I’ve worn my whole life,’ Jaime says, and it doesn’t need to be said that family is extremely dear to the 21-year-old student’s heart. When asked to name her favourite pieces from the collection she starts off with the Mclane White Eye bracelet, which is crafted from agate and features an Armenian Eye. Named after her little sister, she says it’s a piece that she wears every day, and it also comes in the form of sky blue, mint, rose and coral Swarovski pearls that were flown in from Austria especially for Kingi. She is also very fond of the Sal Pearl Tassel bracelet, a delicate piece named after her mother, Sally. When I ask whether she has plans to expand the collection - made up only of bracelets and necklaces - she laughs and says, “right now I’m definitely not doing earrings, mainly because I don’t have my ears pierced and wouldn’t know where to start!” Lindi says that the collaboration has been a dream since the pair were put in contact with each other by Jaime’s agent Liz Delaney of Odd Management, who is also one of Kingi’s best friends. “I emailed Jaime at the beginning asking her to start thinking about stuff like her target market, price range and what she would like to see made,” Kingi explains, “and she pretty much had the whole collection nailed in two weeks, it was amazing. I was so impressed as she had all of the elements in place and was so savvy, I just had to help her make it happen.” Jaime says that she has long wanted to exercise her creative chops, so when the opportunity came up to collaborate with Kingi - whose designs she already wore - she jumped at the chance. “I love beautiful things and I really love jewellery,” she says with a smile, “so to be able to create my own collection was an absolute dream.” When asked who she hopes will wear the collection, both agree that it crosses all ages and is open to be interpreted in so many ways. Snapped up by twelve stockists around the country in just a few days at the recent New Zealand Fashion Week with more wanting to view the pieces over the next couple of weeks, it is already looking to be a success and much loved - and worn - by all sorts of women. Jaime picks up the ornate Ella Emerald and Rose Jewel necklaces and says that while her great aunt has bought one to wear to a ball, it could also look fantastic when paired with a simple grey marle tee shirt and boyfriend jeans. And one can’t forget the boys, for whom Jaime kindly created three strong, masculine designs: the York Eye bracelet, London leather bracelet and the Boston Ring bracelet. “I was trying to find a piece to buy for my boyfriend Josh and there was seriously nothing out there,” says Jaime, “so it was the perfect opportunity to just design something myself!” The campaign, which was shot by photographer David Shields, also includes an image of boyfriend Josh Bloxham, posed with his arms around his beautiful girl. Was he fully on board with being a part of the Jaime Ridge for Lindi Kingi Designs bigger picture? “God no!” laughs Jaime, adding “we didn’t tell him about that shot until about two days PN before... he was so not impressed!” (HELENE RAVLICH) F www.jaimeforlkd.com
72 PONSONBY NEWS+ October 2014
PUBLISHED FIRST FRIDAY EACH MONTH (except January)