John Hardy is not your regular jewellery designer. Even though his stuff is sold in such high-end stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, he lives on his workshop/organic farm in Bali with his wife and two children, growing food for his workers and forsaking the conspicuous consumption he could so easily afford.
'We're in the luxury business but it's about taking the luxury to the back of the store too, to the people who produce it. That's why all 500 of the production people get a luxurious organic lunch every day.'
The Canadian artist explains he moved to Indonesia about 30 years ago and simply never left.
'I'm dyslexic so I had an awful time in school. My dad was disappointed in me so I moved away from my dad. Then I fell into jewellery completely by accident,' Hardy said.
Now his creations are admired around the world, and none more so than his exclusive Cinta line, which is completely inspired by his wife Cynthia. 'Cinta means love in Indonesian. The concept is that every fingerprint is unique and we only ever make one piece of Cinta jewellery each. I call my style elemental and part of the attraction is the imperfections in hand-crafted works.'
