The owners of a beach-themed jewellery company were the ONLY British business to exhibit at the International Jewellery Fair in Sydney last month. Julie Fountain and her business partner and sister, Becky Bristow, travelled more than 10,000 miles to connect with their “perfect customers”.
The show, which took place from the 25th to 27th August 2018 at the ICC, Sydney, played host to 154 jewellery businesses, and British-based Beach Art Glass were keen to share their innovative glass bead jewellery with an international audience.
It’s unusual for people to travel so far for a jewellery fair, but Julie and Becky want to share their popular and unique sea-inspired jewellery with shop owners and buyers in the beach-loving nation of Australia.
As Julie puts it: “We always knew we wanted to expand our business into countries that embrace beach culture, and we were over the moon to be awarded a generous grant by the Department for International Trade which has part-funded our international trip.”
“We feel that Australia, with so many miles of coastline and a welcoming attitude to British brands, was the perfect place to showcase our Beach Art Glass jewellery.”
Julie is passionate about her craft and heads up a small team of British “lampworkers”, the name given to the craft of melting and shaping rods of Italian glass to create individual glass beads. All of the pieces are hand made, with earrings, bracelets and pendants all created using the robust, heirloom quality glass beads and fine sterling silver.