Wanting to show what she could do for jewelry, Ampa Prlidkajonchai started World Trade Jewelry, not quite a year-old but already leaving deep impressions. “Our works are still new,” she says, “but any market which is interested in elaborate, original lines and one that is not heavily dependent on machines will like our stuff,”
At a recent Bangkok jewelry fair, Mrs. Ampa turned down an American wholesaler who proposed a joint venture to start a factory. She says: “It’s not easy to get quality in mass production. Certainly there’s good profit with casting but I have this love for handmade jewelry, a labor of love however time-consuming.”
Seen at the fair: a 524-gram gold necklace inspired by a 17th century Etruscan calendar. Price: a steal, fair-goers said, at 340,000 baht (13,077 U.S. dollars).
Taiwanese customers know Ampa, and trust their big faceted blue sapphires (one was 30 carats) with her, returning for finished jewelry several months later. Jewelry is top-of-the-line and that is why they are rarely hurried, she says.
Mrs. Ampa doesn’t leave precious gold to technology. She trusts good hands and workmanship which also carry over to gemset jewelry. She favors cabochon rubies and sapphires because their prices do not fluctuate quickly as with the faceted stones, and uses them instead of expensive emerald imports. “We must be a pioneer in whatever we do,” she told JewelSiam.
Her insistence on quality and detail could be annoying, she says, but attributes those high standards to jeweler Mrs. Prapha Sritavoralat of Paa fame whom she studied with.
Working with three other designers, Ampa says buyers who want the lowest prices often don’t care about quality and “spoil the feeling one has for making jewelry.”
“Our works should go to someone who really appreciates jewelry, and jewelry is high class. There must always be quality,” she said.