The story behind Curlicue NZ

My Story

Hmmm. How to tell you my story without being too longwinded about it! 🤔 I know – bullet points!! 😂

• I grew up mostly in Auckland, New Zealand (though had a small 3 year stint of my childhood in Jakarta, Indonesia)
• My training and first 10 years of working was in Environmental Planning and Ecology, so I have a fairly strong appreciation for our natural environment
• Since getting married in 2003, my husband and I have visited Kruger National Park in South Africa 5 times – and we’re going again later this year….  Animal conservation is a big part of my story, and has become a family passion.  We like to help with the conservation of endangered animals where we can (usually via ‘adoption’ or donations to WWF every year)
• I became a full-time mum to one gorgeous girl in 2008, then suffered secondary infertility, so “just have one”
• In 2010 my husband gave me a voucher for my birthday to do a 1 on 1 Jewellery Making Tutorial. This is where my love for designing and creating jewellery began… and at the end of 2013 (after a few suggestions of ‘you should sell this’ from family and friends) Curlicue was born – I later added the “NZ” to emphasise the “Made in New Zealand” aspect 😁
• Making beaded wire jewellery was where I started, but then discovered wire wrapping, using stones and shells in their more natural, “raw” form, which led to my unique, one of a kind (OOAK) pieces. With wire wrapping, spirals and korus became a main design feature
• I love to use beads and stones that are part of my heritage (handed down from my Grandma & Great Aunt), and re-design into styles that I like to wear – I’m very happy to do this for you too! You can contact me separately about up cycling your heritage jewellery
• Usually, I don’t wear much makeup or dress in fancy clothes but I wanted something that would add a pop of colour or make me feel beautiful without having to dress up too much – I found I was able to do this with my jewellery 😊
• Helping others is something I love to do, and being able to help other new mums or busy women feel more beautiful just by wearing lovely jewellery is heart-warming
• When I discovered the ability to buy recycled silver and copper (currently sourced from Australia), I tried to make the business follow my personal environmentally friendly ethics
• A “curlicue” is a flourish or double-ended spiral – which I use a lot of in my designs! I wanted a name that was distinctive and unique – just like my jewellery, but also meant something
• I’m an INFJ (Myers-Briggs Personality Type) – the world’s rarest personality type 😁
• After years of IBS & severe endometriosis, I was diagnosed with Chronic Pain Syndrome in about 2012
• After creating my first few designs (all OOAK), I realised I needed to also create ‘reproducible’ items – designs where I could make the same/ similar thing over again for different customers – these are the items now available in my shop.
• I also started creating collections – where all the jewellery fitted a theme.

As I said above, one of the reasons I created Curlicue NZ was the ability to have the freedom to work my own hours, look after my daughter – and also look after myself. Living with chronic pain (and a few other medical problems) I’ve had to learn to put myself first more and take care of myself when needed.

After all, if you don’t look after yourself and have good health – you’ll not be much good at looking after others – whether they’re family or customers! If this wasn’t enough, you can find out other info about me here.