The National Association of Jewellers spoke to The Rock Hound for International Women’s Day
To celebrate International Women’s Day (8th March, 2024) this year The National Association of Jewellers created a the campaign themed “Inspire Inclusion”. The UK jewellery industry has made significant progress in the realm of gender equality in recent years, there are many visible and incredible female role models among us these days. But that doesn’t mean that the movement towards a more inclusive industry should stop.
As part of this campaign the NAJ spoke to four women working in four different aspects of the jewellery industry, to learn about their jewellery journeys and their experiences of and perspectives on this important topic. Founder of The Rock Hound, Susi Smither, was one of them. We hope you enjoy delving into Susi’s journey and what she has overcome to get here.
NAJ: Describe your jewellery journey
Susi: Recently, I was asked if I went down the formal training route, and it made me look back over my jewellery journey and realise that I'd pasted it all together myself. Having already gone to uni to study Maths & Management, I didn't feel I could go back to the beginning when I first discovered jewellery making at 29, so I decided which bits were important to study, how I should study, and where I should study. Then, I pieced it all together over many years. I still wonder whether I took the more challenging route and should have returned to uni.
I've now been in the industry for 15 years. I've had a silver jewellery business, been a bench jeweller training in Hatton Garden, a stock controller at Holts handling their gems, studied with the GIA jewellery design and deep-dived into a full-time gemmology diploma with Gem-A. It wasn't until 2015 that I felt like all the pieces were together, and I was confident enough to launch my jewellery brand, The Rock Hound. Since then, it's been a rollercoaster. I am proud of everything I've achieved, including winning multiple awards and now being stocked with Selfridges through the curation of La Maison Couture.
It can be a challenging industry to get a foothold in, and now I can share my knowledge as a judge and mentor with the Bright New Gems graduate competition – a highlight of my year.
I'm also immensely proud that I became a Freeman of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths last May. It's a huge honour to follow in the footsteps of other esteemed goldsmiths who've joined over the near 700 years and I feel deeply passionate about serving our industry as best I can.
Over the years, I've enjoyed having a foot in the jewellery industry and the gem trade (as a fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain). Having finished my studies in gemmology, I wanted to know more about where gemstones came from, so I embarked on two seminal field trips to Tanzania and Sri Lanka, both with the Scottish Gemmological Association.
It was whilst I was scrabbling around on a pile of tailing next to an artisanal sapphire mine that I really got this sense of the disparity between the work the miners who extract the gemstones and gold do and the highly polished and glossy consumer-facing industry. I found this hard to swallow, so when I started my jewellery brand, I made sure that I knew where my stones were coming from and that I could trace my gold back to the source, and here I am almost ten years later, and the industry is catching up which is great. These are not new conversations anymore but hot topics in our industry, and I'm really proud of how far we've all come.
NAJ: Would you say that being a woman has had an impact on your career?
Susi: I love being a woman, and I wouldn't have it any other way - it definitely gives me an extra edge of tenacity. I've never seen a glass ceiling I thought I couldn't smash. In fact, that's the challenge, so it makes me set myself a very high bar. I don't necessarily want to beat the men in our industry, but I want to be the best woman that I can be.
Lockdown also helped lift the veil on how people juggle life and work; that's been a really positive thing. For a long time, women who had big careers could never even mention their families, but now there's a lot more openness, and I relish that. I'm at a stage in my life where I'm sandwiched between generations, supporting my Mum and our young family. It's a seesaw with my energy and time. I do find it hard to fully step into work or family life fully and switch off from the other, yet men seem to have the capacity to compartmentalise. Luckily, women can multitask!
NAJ: Have you ever been in a situation where you have had to call out inequality?
Susi: Sometimes, it's easier to call it out or even to see inequality when you're one step removed, and so in my career, I have had times when I've helped enlighten management about what's going on.
NAJ: Do you think women have had to work harder to be more 'visible'?
Susi: Damn right they have, and isn't it crazy that it's still going on. We're still aware of this inequality between men and women, so much so that there are still important roles where we are still waiting for the first woman to be appointed even though we know for sure they'd be far better at the job – President of the USA, for instance.
However, the great thing about being a woman is we've got great insight, so whilst we may have been working harder, we've also been clever about it, so our achievements don't just match our male counterparts but raise the standards.
NAJ: Does the jewellery sector actually offer workplaces where women can thrive?
Susi: I'm so proud to be a member of the jewellery industry because, yes, women can totally thrive. Even though we are an industry steeped in tradition, we are progressive and have recognised and championed change. Whenever I attend an industry event, seeing equal, if not more, women in the room is refreshing. We have a growing community that openly shares knowledge and supports each other, which is especially pertinent as many jewellers are self-employed.
NAJ: What does 'Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress' (The United Nations's theme for IWD) mean to you in terms of our industry?
Susi: There's something deeply unselfish about women when they set out to achieve something, so this epitomises innovative industry. Through investing in women, it's been proven they will not just take the money to feed themselves but will plant roots. That innate nurturing instinct present in women means they will help those around them to prosper and lift everyone with them at the same time. It's actually a forward-thinking approach that Moyo Gems has used when empowering artisanal minors in East Africa, such as their work with the Tanzanian Women Miners Association (TAWOMA). Here, they work solely with the women because when they start making additional money, they use it to support the community and share amongst all the families, which has been a vital way of bringing change to the whole community.
A wonderful example of this closer to home is Amanda Mansell's incredible work launching The Forge in Hatton Garden. She's created an amazing training and workspace and is using it as a platform to promote other jewellers and their work. Helping inspire other women to push themselves further has proved to be a catalyst for accelerated progress.
We recommend you read the full article and listen to the voices of the other women interviewed, Annie Warburton, Marie Brennan and Leesha Kaur, to get a fuller picture of the journeys women are taking through the jewellery industry. Annie Warburton is the chief executive of the Goldsmiths’ Company. Marie Brennan is the senior business development manager at the Birmingham Assay Office. Leesha Kaur from Sonny’s Jewellers and aa member of the NJA national comittee.