Wow! Here I am today, being able to call myself a Goldsmith and having my own jewellery brand. I’m so stoked and happy as can be. What I truly love most about what I do, is to find out the stories behind every piece of jewellery. What is the reason why you are treating yourself, or someone else, with a solid golden ring or necklace? Is there a reason why you’re choosing a specific gemstone? People often ask me “is everything you wear, made by you?”. Well, actually, it’s not. Because all solid golden jewellery I wear tells a part of my story, and that story began a long time before I became a Goldsmith myself.
WHERE DID IT START?
I’ve always been creative. Whether it was drawing, painting, or hosting a party… I enjoyed the process of creating something pretty and perfecting the details. My love for gold started when my mom moved out of our parental house. While packing, we found 2 of my childhood rings and my first pair of ear hoops. All 14k solid gold, they still looked so good! One of them I’ve never taken off since.
For my next birthday, my mom gave me the wedding bands from my great-grandparents. They reached the ages of 96 and 99 so I had them until my 16th, so special! It was not my style to wear, so I asked a goldsmith in Amsterdam to add a garnet to the ring. I’ve worn their rings every single day since then. This was the first time I thought, “I wish I could have done this myself”.
One year later, my grandma passed away. I wanted to get my mom a necklace with my grandma’s fingerprint. An atelier in Amsterdam, named Solitude the Label, which is run by two sisters, helped me with creating the design I had in mind. For the second time, I thought “I wished I could do this myself”.
My great-grandparents’ wedding rings
Engraved: D. V. & H. Z. 21 – 5 – ’30
ONE BOLD IDEA
This happened during the first COVID lockdown, and I was questioning my career growth as being a Project Manager for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. I worked there for 7 years and loved every single day, but COVID just felt like a sign I had to change my path.
I went up to the sisters of Solitude the Label, with the bold proposal that I was able to give their website a new look and improve their online presence. In return, I didn’t want them to pay me, I asked them to teach me how to melt and work with gold. They agreed! For 4 months I joined them in their atelier in an old school building in Amsterdam. In the morning, I was focusing on their website, in the afternoon, they taught me everything about smithing. They’ve absolutely been the best and taught me so much, I’m as grateful as can be. Nowadays, they have a beautiful atelier on the canals of Amsterdam, so when you’re around, go and give them a visit!
After those 4 months, I got myself a working bench and all the tools I needed to start creating jewellery from my living room. My dad had some old golden jewellery, so I started playing around with it, posted some photos on my Instagram, and it got picked up by my friends pretty quickly. Within a few weeks, family, and friends, and friends of friends, kept on reaching out to me with requests. That’s when I figured, let’s go all the way, create myself a website, set up a professional Instagram account… and start my own Goldsmithing career!
Studio Ferde: the story behind the name
When it was time to decide on a brand name, I wanted it to be something French. I’ve always had a special bond with France. During my childhood, we had a family house in the Alps and I even have a tattoo of an Alp from that village on my inner arm.
I started it off with the French word for green, vert. Green is nature – I work with natural materials like gold and gemstones. Plus, it’s my favourite colour as well as the colour of my eyes.
From vert I went to verde – I know, it’s Spanish/Italian – but it sounds bolder and more powerful. Me being an IT-nerd before becoming a Goldsmith, I decided to add studio, so it became Studio Verde.
By that time, one of my closest friends Rianne, pointed out that if I’d do Ferde, my brand would have the same initials as I do: SF, Sharonne Faassen… BAM!