Australian label FinerRings is making dainty jewellery that’s built to last
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FINERRINGS
words by kaya martin
“You may spend a little more for FinerRings over fast fashion jewellery, but our pieces will last years when the cheaper jewellery will last only a couple of wears.”
Taiba Ash enrolled in nursing school with the goal of, as one would expect, becoming a nurse. But soon life pulled her in a different direction. “When I decided to quit my job and go study nursing as a mature aged student, I really wanted to satisfy my creative spark, in a way nursing wouldn’t be able to,” she says.
Always drawn to arts and crafts as a kid, she decided to grab a soldering kit and start making stacking rings. Her hobby quickly became an obsession and soon her label FinerRings was born.
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Taiba would come home from university and fill online orders from her bedroom studio. On weekends, she’d wake up at 3am to drive out to craft fairs and markets with her car packed full of handmade jewellery.
“I found a passion within the crafting community and the more involved I got with FinerRings, the more I began to see my business starting to grow. I could see my designs were getting so much love from customers and I knew I was onto something.”
Taiba had stumbled upon a gap in the jewellery market; customers were looking for simple yet elegant high-quality pieces that didn’t rust or tarnish but also didn’t break the bank. She became one of the first Australian jewellers to use gold filled materials, a process that fuses the main material (usually sterling silver) with a thick layer of gold, giving it the same appearance as a solid gold piece at a fraction of the price.
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“Our customer understands girl maths and the cost per wear,” she says. “You may spend a little more for FinerRings over fast fashion jewellery, but our pieces will last years when the cheaper jewellery will last only a couple of wears.”
Designed and handmade in Melbourne to this day, her pieces quickly drew the attention of fashion girlies far and wide. Built to last and easy to mix and match, they became a top choice for those looking to pick up a new staple item. As her business grew, Taiba decided it was time for something more permanent.
“I saved all my hard-earned money with the intention of opening up my first store. I wanted Chapel Street with all my heart, even though everyone told me it was dying, but I just knew it would smash it there,” she tells me.
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“Unfortunately, when you’re a young woman without a big business behind you, no one takes you seriously. It was really hard to find agents that would call me back, that would try to help me find a pop-up lease.
“I got so lucky meeting a young female commercial agent who had purchased from me at a market and got me into the Jam Factory on a three-month pop-up. I sold my first piece before the doors had opened, while I was setting up, and I knew with all the pride in the world that FinerRings was going to be something.”
These days, with locations in Fitzroy, Balaclava, South Yarra and Chadstone Shopping Centre as well as one in Mosman in Sydney, there are a lot more orders to fill. Taiba has assembled a passionate and dedicated team of staff to help her put the pieces together. She says while FinerRings will always be dedicated to refined and timeless design, she often finds inspiration in their creativity.
“I’ll walk into the studio and see someone wearing a piece of jewellery she’s custom-made for herself and immediately fall in love, put it online and pretty much always call the piece after her!”
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FinerRings also offers Sparked permanent bracelets and an ever-popular Fine & Wine interactive jewellery-making class for those who want to learn more about the craft in a playful, easygoing environment.
“Fine & Wine is the same concept as paint and sip… but more unique and seriously fun! Because I teach all the staff how to make jewellery, all of them have this creative skill that I hate gatekeeping, so the idea to have night outs for ladies who want to drink till their heart’s content and maybe learn to make three pieces of jewellery was created.”
FinerRings has come a long way in the handful of years since Taiba was busy putting jewellery together in her bedroom. While she’s got big plans on the horizon – including a dream to open a store in every major Australian city – she’ll still never forget the first time she saw someone wearing one of her pieces.
“I was sitting on Chapel Street with a friend and a lovely girl I’d never seen before walked past wearing my earrings. The fabulous part of making your own pieces is that you know when it’s your jewellery someone is wearing,” she says. “No jokes, to this day, I always stop people wearing FinerRings on the street and compliment them on their jewellery!”
To browse the full FinerRings collection, head here.
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