Journey to Juraster: Founder's Story
Jessica Cadzow-Collins has made stars sparkle. She’s spent over 30 years working at top brands such as Asprey, Garrard and Chaumet on Bond Street and Harrods. She’s mastered the art of fine jewellery design and the secrets of meticulous craftsmanship. Particularly the expertise that makes jewellery transformable. Eventually she was persuaded by friends and clients to start her own innovative brand - to enshrine her ethical values and high standards. This is the story of how Jessica formed Juraster.
Jessica's Early Career
Jessica’s journey into jewellery is a story of adventure. One that follows a path of passion and paved the way for her groundbreaking work in custom handmade jewellery.
Growing up in Scotland, Jessica never considered jewellery as a career, even though she was surrounded by savvy collectors. Both her mother and grandmother had an eye for unique handmade jewellery pieces with stories to tell.
She remembers frequent visits with her mother to Edinburgh jewellers, where jewels glinted in hushed luxury within seductive and enticing emporiums, full of curios and tiny sparkling treasures. But she first got truly hooked on jewellery because of a road trip to Italy.
She dreamed of being an art dealer. At the tender age of 18, she drove by herself from Edinburgh to Florence: through France, over the Alps to Switzerland and into Italy. After three days on the road, Jessica parked her beaten-up VW at a palazzo owned by the renowned private art owners Prince and Princess Corsini, who graciously took in paying guests. By chance, she won a coveted place at Sotheby’s Florence auction house, as an office art intern.
The Making of a Jewellery Expert
Jessica was tasked for three weeks with filing photos of old master paintings sold by Sotheby’s. Interesting, but not as interesting as the desk next to hers. Sotheby’s jewellery expert sat beside Jessica. On her desk were trays heaped with gems she valued and sent for sale to London, Rome and New York.
Fresh treasures landed there every day and Jessica was spellbound with this vintage-inspired jewellery. Her own work was forgotten. Jessica discussed jewellery all day long: age, condition, value, gemstones. This patient expert spotted her innate flair and urged her to take up a career in jewellery instead of art. She told her where she’d studied and how she’d started out.
By the end of her internship at Sotheby’s, Jessica was hooked. It was true love. So she packed up her ancient VW and hit the road again. To London this time, to train as a gemmologist and learn more about custom handmade jewellery.
For two years, she studied gems round the clock, including responsibly sourced diamonds, which became a vital component of Juraster. She enrolled onto the Fellowship Diploma of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain, (it’s like a degree in jewellery). The course was at night school in East London at the old Sir John Cass School near Aldgate, now absorbed into London Metropolitan University.
Working for the World's Leading Luxury Jewellery Companies
Studying by night in the East End, by day Jessica worked in the glamorous West End. She won a position as an assistant dealer at Collingwood of Bond Street, an historic Royal jewellers, now long gone. Thrown in at the deep end, she traded gems and antique jewellery all round the world.
She’d found her metier - unique handmade jewellery pieces. With a willingness to learn and travel, and the ability to think on her feet, Jessica did well. She soon made a wide circle of friends amongst the colourful characters of the international gems and jewellery trade. Her ability to value and buy gems well, and design fine jewellery that sold, earned her promotions at Collingwood, eventually becoming Buying Manager and then Marketing Manager.
She has many stories from those early years of her career. One time, while travelling in New York with a rare sea-green coloured diamond, insurance rules meant she had to hire a bodyguard. Not one, but two off-duty NYPD officers met her at arrivals, one to guard the other one, who guarded her!
Although she did once spoil a New York limo driver’s day. He couldn’t hide his high hopes that the Miss J Collins (and her gems) he had come to collect at The Plaza Hotel was either Joan or Jackie. No, just her!
On one occasion Diana, Princess of Wales, sang “Happy birthday” to Jessica during a charity lunch which Collingwood was involved with. Jessica will always remember what a warm, radiant person she was. Princess Diana’s inspiring commitment to charity - particularly homelessness - left a deep impression on Jessica too. It influenced her seven years as Chair of London Scottish homeless charity, Borderline.
In time, Jessica moved on from Collingwood having formed a deep foundation in fine jewellery and retail management. She now half-jokes that she’s done almost every job in jewellery. She worked part-time valuing jewellery for London auction house Rosebery’s whilst her two children were very young. And she returned to Bond Street to join the retail team of Asprey’s jewellery department when they were both at school.
Within a few months of joining Asprey, she was promoted to Corporate Manager, selling the company’s famous gleaming silver trophies and gifts to organisations all over the world. She was responsible for winning the order to make the first ever perpetual trophy for The Derby - the most famous horse race in the world. She travelled extensively for Asprey, winning new client accounts and helping the jewellery department at Middle East fairs.
After Asprey and a short spell at high jewellery house Moussaieff in Bond Street, she joined Garrard as Director of Corporate and Special Orders. Within a few years she was running the company’s sales teams as Director of Retail, a role she loved, combining team management and customer service. At Garrard, she was tasked with applying for the renewal of the then Prince of Wales’ royal warrant. She credits her success in this by applying and measuring up to his pioneering environmental and social responsibility standards. His ethical principles became the foundations of her own ethical jewellery brand, Juraster.
After Garrard, Jessica’s career continued as boutique director of royal French jewel house, Chaumet, owned by the LVMH luxury empire. There she learnt at first hand how this historic brand creates contemporary designs coveted by global customers.
Chaumet and Garrard are both renowned for their magical tiara designs. Tiaras have a fairytale allure that never fades. Jessica has seen how tiaras transform poised princesses into giggling schoolgirls, with just one glance at their sparkle. And of course, Jessica has handled jewellery for the rich and famous. Discreetly, of course.
She held history in her hands, including the last piece of jewellery worn by Tsarina Alexandra before the Bolsheviks shot her, and Queen Victoria’s beloved sapphire coronet, now enshrined at the V&A Museum. Discovering the stories behind unique gems inspires her podcast series ‘Inside the Jewel Vault’. The show invites the great and the good of the jewellery world to select six treasures before ultimately picking just one, like a glittering Desert Island Discs.
Becoming a Luxury Jewellery Designer in her Own Right
Jessica knows that jewellery is for everyone - not just for stars and royals. People outside the public eye have love-affairs with jewellery.
Friends asked for stellar jewellery designs that don’t cost six month’s salary. They craved stand-out pieces that don’t look like everybody else’s. They sought jewellery to chart their life and mark their loves and adventures.
This is how Jessica started designing jewellery - by creating bespoke jewellery for people. She has an aesthetic refined from decades of handling the best jewellery and a sharp eye for meticulous finish and detail. She designs in a modern romantic style inspired by her clients’ personalities. Her favourite projects are transforming clients’ old pieces into new recycled jewellery designs, renewing their sentiments.
Soon clients asked for ready-made designs they could buy as gifts or as treats for themselves. And so the idea for Juraster was born, creating versatile transformable jewellery, that’s easy to buy online.
Jessica knows how talismanic jewellery is. Inspired by her research with customers, Juraster’s designs are intrinsically powerful and amuletic. And because she and her clients love to mix and match their jewellery to reflect how they feel, she designed versatile ways to make the collection transformable. Her clients want to invest in sentimental pieces that will make them stand out, transforming along with them and their lives.
Jessica didn’t just want to make jewellery, she wanted to change the way jewellery was made. Her vision for Juraster is to set new touchstone standards of ethics, quality and design in jewellery. Her clients told her they wanted to invest in solid gold or silver, they were not fans of plated jewellery. Jessica listened and decided to turn this into a reality with all Juraster's pieces being made in ethical Fairmined gold and silver.
Her strong social justice values sent her to learn how to work with ethical Fairmined metals. This is the highest standard certification for artisanal and small-scale operations. The scheme ensures that miners are well paid, work in safe, healthy environments and develop their communities for the future. These mines are never in conflict zones, nor mined by slave, forced or child labour. Each mine follows an active plan for ecological restoration so nature is in balance with industrial activities and will revert back when the mine is exhausted. All of this making Juraster's responsibly mined gold and silver a hallmark of sustainability.
How Juraster Got its Name
Juraster is a love story about an island. And an adventure. On adventures, you see things with fresh eyes. Maybe even find answers. While taking a break from building her new jewellery business, Jessica was sailing the wild Scottish islands. She still hadn’t found a name for her new brand. She was looking for a name to start with a J because of the shape of the connecting hooks she’d designed for pieces to join up to each other.
As she navigated the tricky west coast of the remote Isle of Jura, on course for a neighbouring island harbour, Jura was shrouded in clouds. But time and tides changed, she was forced to abandon her course. It turned out to be a lucky move. As Jessica turned the sailing yacht to anchor safely on Jura, the winds calmed and the skies cleared.
Suddenly, for the first time ever, she saw the three iconic peaks of Jura, their points sparkling silver high in the sky. It was a spellbinding moment. Jura’s mountains became the inspiration for Juraster. It was the name Jessica had been searching for.
Over centuries, that remote island attracted visionaries, leaders and adventurers. George Orwell wrote “1984” there. Nancy Astor, Britain’s first female Member of Parliament, loved to escape public life in its wilderness. Even Odysseus is reputed to have sailed there - you can see why. That night on the yacht, Jessica watched the stars frame the mountains mirrored in the glassy sea. It was a meaningful moment for her that endures ever after, like jewellery. The name crystallised in her mind by pairing Jura with aster – Greek for star.
For Jessica, Juraster is an adventure in jewellery and Juraster’s customers are wavemakers. Following her passion to create impeccable, unique transformable jewellery with positive impact means Jessica journeys along a demanding and untrodden path.
Quick-fire Quiz with Jessica
- What’s one thing you can’t live without?
Books – I’m from the Scottish publishing and printing family Collins, and I inherited a problematic addiction to books along with the Collins’ social welfare gene. It’s problematic in that I have piles of books I’ve not even read yet - in every corner of my home!
- What’s one piece of jewellery you would not live without?
My engagement ring. It’s a black opal that looks like the Earth. My husband said he wanted to give me the world! It’s the original Selkie ring design with a hinge so it can be worn as a pendant and not get knocked on my hand. Opals are only as hard as glass so they can’t stand up to everyday wear.
- What is a fun childhood memory?
My brother, my sister and I used to run wild, we grew up in Scotland in the middle of the Scottish Borders and we would just roam all day making dens and damming streams and just messing around, having adventures. It’s the reason I love outdoor adventure so much.
- What’s some advice would you’d give to your 20-year-old self?
Just believe in yourself.
6. What is your favourite summer activity?
Getting out into the wilderness. Preferably in North West Scotland. Rock climbing, hiking, my husband and I go mountain biking together - and sailing of course! Being close to the sea or the rocks.
- What is one thing on your bucket list?
Well, there are a lot of things on my bucket list, but I would love to visit a pearl farm, and dive and actually see the rows of South Sea oyster beds in Broome or Tahiti.
- What is an achievement you feel proud of?
Social justice and welfare is really important to me. For the last 9 years I worked with the charity Borderline to end homelessness in London - I was chairman for 7 of those years. Now we’ve merged with our sister charity ScotsCare. Over this time, I’ve personally raised nearly £300,000 from personal connections and rough sleep-outs. Unimaginable hardship is all around us. It’s something I will always fight.
Image Credits
All Images belong to Juraster