In the heart of downtown Kingston sits Alchemy House Jewellery, a newly-opened jewellery store that takes pride in their authentic, handmade products.
The store, which had its grand opening on Sept. 6, is co-owned by Miranda Scott and Talia Pennachetti, two people that are both tackling owning a business for the first time.
“We both went to school for jewellery and we used to make it in our homes. This is our first actual business,” Scott said.
Alchemy House is a pristine minimalist space that allows customers to focus on the beautiful hand-crafted pieces of jewellery set up in glass cases at the front of the store. Immediately, one can tell that each item is made with precision, giving the jewellery a unique and unmanufactured twist.
Initially, it was a difficult adjustment for Scott and Pennachetti to get the business running, as they both had no prior experience with operating a business.
“It was difficult in the sense that there’s no handy guidebook for opening a business that we could have followed,” Scott said. “It’s intimidating, but there’s a lot that we’ve learnt in the process.”
There are jewellery-making workshops implemented that start at $250 for a six-week introductory course. With these workshops, Alchemy House provides customers with a great opportunity to learn how to create personalized jewellery through the experienced teachings of the co-owners.
“With the classes, what we are hoping for is to draw attention to the fact that this [craft] is an under-appreciated art. Having the classes will bring awareness to the hard work that goes into this,” she said.
Scott said that she takes a more refined approach to crafting jewellery, especially in comparison to the mainstream projections of jewellery.
“My personal aesthetic is that it doesn’t have to be covered in diamonds and super shiny to be beautiful,” she said. “It’s in a way a response to how manufactured jewellery is right now. That’s not really how we roll. We do offer things like ethical and recycled gemstones here.”
Although every item in the store is exclusively made by hand, something you don’t often see nowadays, the owners are determined to be viewed as a store that anyone can feel comfortable going into.
“We are a high-end store but we want to be approachable. We want to accustom to work around people’s budgets, and the classes are very fairly priced for students,” she said.
Alchemy House Jewellery is located at 219 Princess St.
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alchemy house jewellery, store opening
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