Jewels made with love

DESIGNING, creating and selling her creations is just the start of the work done by Georgia Morison at her handmade jewellery business GM Jewellery.

From intricate rings to delicate chain necklaces, she lovingly crafts each of the pieces by hand in her cosy home studio in Ballarat.

After recently releasing her debut collection Love Ritual to her online store, Morison said she was overwhelmed with the support from her community.

“I hadn’t released a collection before so I wasn’t sure what to expect,” she said. “I’m very grateful to the people who have supported me.

“A lot of people who have passion projects would understand how much it means to you to know you’ve been really supported.”

Her affinity for jewels could have been inherited from mother who also studied jewellery crafting in the 80s herself.

Growing up, she was used to seeing all sorts of jeweller’s tools around the house and Morison said she remembers playing with her mum’s creations.

“I ended up inheriting some of these tools and files from my mum,” she said.

“They’re all such good quality, they will last forever so I could probably even hand them down again to my own kids.”

Although she always had an interest in the field, it wasn’t until she completed a course in jewellery making that her passion was truly cemented.

Morison said creating jewellery was a combination of her interest in the creative arts with the practicality of running a business.

“It sort of feels like a practical form of art,” she said. “My favourite thing about it is the ability to be intuitive and let it take me where it’s going to take me.

“I like the idea that all handmade items have story connected to them, it sets it apart from anything else.”

Once it reopens, the Art Gallery of Ballarat’s store is set to stock a selection of bespoke pieces.

Although a catalogue of her jewellery already retails on her website, she said being included in the gallery’s shop was an exciting step forward.

“They will be choosing a few of my pieces that they like to almost to form a story,” she said.

“I really like doing one off pieces and they’re open to me putting a few these in there as well.”

To distinguish her products from manufactured and commercialised jewellery, Morison said her pieces are not just handmade, but they are hand crafted to a high quality.

“The term handmade is thrown around a lot now and people probably don’t understand that these pieces are made with a lot of time and a lot of care,” she said.

“The way that they’re made and because I strive to make sure they’re all really durable, these things can last generations.

“This ring or necklace might be something that your kids or your grandkids have that will hold the history of being made in 2020 in Ballarat for years to come.”