Perhaps this should be dedicated to all those husbands, boyfriends, partners who have the difficult task of searching for the perfect gift, as this is how my love of
hop hop hop began.
A couple of years ago as my birthday was approaching my husband asked what I would like as a gift. He is an excellent shopper and though I can always trust him to present me with something that will make my heart skip a beat, this time I knew what I was after. I had seen a locket in magazine and fallen in love with it. I had always loved the idea of wearing a locket but wanted something a bit more contemporary than the other lockets I had seen. It was to house a lock of the girls hair and I felt that it should be colourful, joyous and youthfu but refined. I sent him on a search for the necklace with only an image from the torn out page from the magazine. No name, no mention of shop, no mention of designer. The poor man searched, asked around even tried to contact the magazine ( yes, he's an amazing husband and yes I know I'm pretty darn lucky!). However, he couldn't find it.
The locket haunted me and nothing else I found seemed to be quite what I imagined. I kept seeing the jewellery and other designs from the same range in fashion shoots but never quoting a name or shop. It was as though there was a secret guarding them. It took a forever of googling and finally there they were, pretty clouds, round lockets in beautiful colours with simple elegant long chains, twinkling stars and miniature bells this was the necklace and finally I was going to be able to wear it and hold a keepsake of my children inside.
I knew there would be others like me who would fall head over heels in love with the designs too so when it came to bringing together our for 'mama' collection
hop hop hop came in at the top. Besides, I wanted to make sure I could always get
my hands on the beautiful pieces.
The reason they are so hard to find turned out to be not because they were a secret known only to the women who grace the pages of Vogue magazine but rather due to the fact that they are not mass produced or mass marketed. Each piece is hand made, lovingly crafted and beautifully designed by the brilliant French artist Clémentine du Pontavice.
Now not only have I fallen in love with the entire collection but I'm pretty much in awe of the creativity of the designer. This is the story of a young woman with a similar wanderlust, with itchy feet and dreams of creating.
Though it wasn't obvious to Clementine that she was destined to become a jewellery designer it seeems as though she was always destined to turn her imagination into something creative.
Whislt working as a product manager for an advertising company her mind was elsewhere, overflowing with creative ideas and a desire to do more with her dreams. Clementine decided to take a leap of faith to quench her creative urges and satisfy her desire to set her imagination free.
So with a 'hop hop hop' off she went to travel the world. Visiting Africa, her first stop is Cameroon. Here the vibrant colours and beautiful fabrics made a strong and lasting impression on her. So inspired, Clementine had clothes tailored here from her own designs.
Clementine journeyed to Asia taking in Nepal and China before hopping over to Latin America absorbing the colours, jewells, bangles and the array of delights in the stalls and markets in Chile and Bolivia. Clementine travelled, filling her suitcase with colourful emotions inspired by the women she saw wearing jewells, pretty pearls, multicoloured bracelets, little bells and beautiful saris.
Her travels fed her imagination and filled her mind with colour and creative possibilities. Each time coming home with her luggage full of dreams.
Clementine channelled the profusion of ideas and desires into writing. Thriving on the adventures and the sights she had seen several books are born. The stories of her experiences are shared, songs are written and childrens books are created from the pictures of her mind.
With a desire to share all that she has discovered and an urge to communicate through creativity and design Clementine embarks on a new journery creating her jewellery label in 2004: '
hop hop hop'.
There is an innocence to the designs, a simplicity that is fun, youthful and utterly enchanting. The jewelled world of hop hop hop is a place of play, of dreams and colour inspired by song, from stories and by joyous journeys around the world.
A world filled with brightly coloured enamel birds with little round contrasting coloured tummies that glitter and shine adorning delicate golden chains. Clouds in powder pink and delicate blues, lockets with stars and bell embellishments in colours such as retro navy, rose, powder pink, lemon yellow, peacock blue and green. This is a world I enjoy rejoicing in.
Hop hop hop reflects the life and imagination of its creator who's heart is so full of wonder with each piece so lovingly hand crafted every piece is a unique work of art.
Clementine is now embarking on a new journey into motherhood and I can't wait to see what newly discovered dreams and inspiratuion will hop along to her new collection.
Discover the hop hop hop collection here
This is part of our series of blog posts about the
Story Behind our Collections - why we've chosen the designers that are in the boutique and how those designers came to be.
To see a bit more of what Sisters Guild is all about take a look at the
A-Z of Sisters Guild here.
