In this episode of Pearls of Wisdom, David interviews our very own Kate Vivas. Kate is our in house jeweller at Aquarian Pearls and has worked at Aquarian Pearls for over 10 years creating people pearl jewellery. After finishing high school Kate struggled to decide on a career. The one thing that had held her interest since a child was a fascination in jewellery. She started an apprenticeship in 1995 with an Austrian trained jeweller in Balmain and completed it in 1999. She received a European style training that meant she had to make everything by hand from scratch in brass first then when it was good enough be given gold to make it. This meant that sometimes she had to make pieces over and over again until they were perfect. It gave her a very good understanding of how things are constructed and how metal behaves what it can and can’t do. She then went on to study gemology, diamond grading and valuation which was a fantastic experience and really encouraged her fascination with gemstones of all sorts as well as an introduction to a lot of new people in the industry. She then worked for a coloured gemstone wholesale company called Gogoanna for 10 years, doing sales and designing jewellery for wholesale customers. After 10 years with coloured stones, she started my pearl journey by working for 3 years for a pearl wholesaler before coming to Aquarian Pearls where Kate has been since 2011. At Aquarian pearls Kate is the designer for both the Aquarian Pearls line of jewellery and the television shopping channel brand Matahina Pearls for TVSN Shopping Channel Australian and Gem Shopping Channel in the USA . The Matahina Pearls brand is a all inclusive line of jewellery allowing Kate to design for all different demographics, all ages, sizes, styles and price points making it a challenging and rewarding designing experience . After 10 years of designing jewellery with South Sea, Tahitian and Philippine gold pearl, Kate has come to appreciate the wide ranging colours and textures that come with working with pearls . ” I love to mix textures and colour tones to blend or contrast the varied colours of the pearls with gemstones. Such as Sapphire, Tourmaline, Tanzanite, Morganite and Aquamarine the varied colours and textures of the cuts of the gemstones meld beautifully with pearls creating never ending possibilities. My philosophy to designing jewellery with pearls is that they can suit every woman no matter their age, style or colouring they can look fantastic wearing pearls”.