Magnificently coloured gemstones combined with classic pearls and beautiful charms … all strung together with pure silk. Umhlanga-based jewellery designer Justine Barrington’s pieces are trendy and funky while still being made to traditional, high standards.
Jewellery trends come and go but, according to Justine, being able to have fun and play around with your jewellery and wardrobe, and adjust them to suit your mood and style, is the most important thing.
It was after she returned to Durban (having lived in Johannesburg for many years), and during lockdown, that Justine rediscovered her love for gemstones, beads and pearls, and reignited her business, Jewellery by Justine.
A true child of the 70s, and hailing from a ‘rag trade background’, Justine is the daughter of well-known Barrington jeans founder Peter Barrington.
After studying and working in the clothing design industry, Justine moved to Johannesburg where she worked in IT. She decided to change careers and study interior design when she was in her mid-forties.
“I had just had a new baby and needed a career where I could be a part-time stay-at-home mom, but also do something I loved.”
It was around the same time, Justine says, that she began adding to a collection of stones her mother had given her for her 40th birthday.
Although she loved working in interior design, and it came very naturally to her, Justine had an unfortunate health scare, which forced her to stop working for two years. “That’s when I went back to the beautiful gems I had been collecting and learning about. I put together some designs using the stones I had and adding more gemstones from auctions all over the world. And so, Justine Barrington Fine Gemstone Jewellery was born. Colourful gemstones are my passion.”
Justine moved back to KZN at the end of 2019. “I needed my hometown and the sea and wanted my daughter to be close to family.” She continued working remotely on some interior projects with existing clients and making fine jewellery for others.
“And then came lockdown and business stopped. We had moved in with my mother and I had to drop everything else and do the most important job of all – taking care of my people. That’s also when Jewellery by Justine was born – birthed on my mother’s dining room table.”
When she wasn’t home-schooling, cooking or cleaning, Justine says she started teaching herself to string pearls and scoured the internet for suppliers. “It’s hard to obtain real gold- and silver-plated items of a high standard locally, so my first haul of high quality findings – sterling silver, plated and gold-filled chains and pearls – came from farms in the East. The gemstones were from cutting plants in Jaipur and faceted beads, charms and vermeil from Thailand and Turkey.”
A stickler for high quality and standards, Justine says she was very careful about what she bought from where. “When you buy a piece from me, just know that it’s possibly pulled together from handmade beads and charms from all over the world and it will always be of a very high quality.”
Jewellery by Justine offers ‘demi-fine’ jewellery, which means it combines high quality plated metals, or gold filled, with pure gold and silver. Her ranges are small and sold online.
Key to her design, she says, is creating pieces that can multi-task. “A necklace can double as a wrist wrap, and by using our gorgeous Carabiners or push lock clasps it’s easy to slip on a few charms of your choice, lengthen to layer with a chain, wear the clasp to the front as a feature or to the back for a more minimalist feel … whatever your heart desires!”
Justine’s jewellery is full of beautiful colour combinations and she only strings with pure silk or specialist beading cord. “My jewellery may be funky but is made to a very high, traditional standard.”
Speaking about current jewellery trends, Justine says that the look spans many decades and people are wanting to express who they are. “We are borrowing bits from many eras and styles, including both minimalism and talismanic jewellery. People are wearing brighter pastels for pops of colour and interesting chunky detailed chains are really big overseas, especially combined with gorgeous medallions or talismanic charms and motifs such as an evil eye or a Hand of Fatima.
“Wearing talismanic jewellery can really give you a boost and celestial jewellery – star signs, moons and stars and birthstones – is also big.”
For the months ahead, Justine says September birthstones are blue sapphires. “Multi-sapphires have to be my favourite at the moment, along with multi-coloured tourmalines, opals and moonstones. October is Breast Cancer Month and I have some amazing pinks coming in for this month too. I always feel that, perhaps, in the wearing we are telling our story …”
Details: Jewellery by Justine, IG @jewellerybyjustineb, 083 777 9999 [email protected]
