Chris Benham - Director

Ian Douglas has always had a passion to showcase his designs around the world. He has known that his designs are up there with the best in the world and is recognised for his innovation in jewellery. Further evidence of this has been shown by the jewellers from The Inspired Collective having recently won the coveted grand prize in National Jewellery Design Awards.

I met Ian and Christine Douglas in 2005 when I was working as a consultant in a corporate advisory and tax firm.  I have always had a desire to start a business from scratch. I knew that I wanted to start a company with people that appreciated good design and to work with people that love what they do.

I thought that the best way to do this was to become a Chartered Accountant and work in an environment where I could work with hundreds of experienced successful entrepreneurs and see from the inside exactly how they ran their businesses. There was a common trait I found with the ‘successful’ entrepreneurs I worked with.  They were truly passionate about what they did and held a belief that they could be the best in the world. They were the type of people that you would go into a meeting with and tell you about a recent success in their business or their new venture in a way that made you come out buzzing with excitement.

I was then lucky enough to meet Ian and Christine Douglas and work with them on all aspects of The Village Goldsmith including their business restructuring, accounts and operations. From this early stage we all clicked. I quickly realised that Ian Douglas and his team were passionate, innovative and has endless energy to achieve the best, hence why they were so successful. We realised that there was an opportunity to get these amazing engagement and right-hand rings on the hands of women all around the world. This was the early stage of my relationship with Ian and Christine.

I then decided to travel around the world for 18 months and explore as many cultures and places I could get to while using London as a base. During this time I looked in jewellery stores around the world to see if I could find anything as unique and beautifully made as what Ian and his team were designing and making. I couldn’t, and this is when I realised the true potential of The Inspired Collection.

We kept in touch over the 18 months and I was lucky enough to be asked by Ian to come and start Inspired Jewellery alongside The Village Goldsmith. It was something that I could be completely passionate about. It was focused on design and craftsmanship of the highest quality.  Most importantly, what is more special than being part of someone’s engagement. From this Inspired Jewellery was born....

We have begun with a focus to create leading design jewellery that builds on the award winning skills and expertise of Ian Douglas’ hugely successful company The Village Goldsmith. The Village Goldsmith was established in 1981 and has successfully been serving the New Zealand and the international market for over 29 years.

Ian’s goal in the jewellery industry has always been to be the best. This was recognised in his nomination for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. His business practice has always to be open and honest. He values his reputation of being totally reliable.

Although Inspired Jewellery is a young company we have built it on Ian’s experience of 30 years being in the business and our team of jewellers have an average of 30 years experience in the jewellery industry. Yes that’s correct an average of 30 years experience!  We are directly linked to The Village Goldsmith and work in direct partnership with the jewellers and management.

We create our jewellery based on four key pillars – Design, Integrity, Quality and Craftsmanship. With this approach we create cutting edge jewellery of the highest quality and craftsmanship for customers who appreciate good design.

• Design – start with a pencil and paper
• Integrity -  transparent and honest
• Quality – only the highest quality
• Craftsmanship – award winning jewellers