Jewellery designer Annoushka Ducas talks pearls, Links of London and her love of the Philippines
Briton who arrived in Hong Kong aged 19 and 'knowing nothing' sold property until a commission from her mother led her into jewellery design. She set up Annoushka to fill niche for casual, feminine jewellery
She designed her first piece of jewellery, her engagement ring, in Hong Kong. Twenty-five years later the jewellery entrepreneur still has an affection for Asia.
“I have a tremendous fondness for the Philippines because that is where my career in jewellery started. I’m celebrating my 25th anniversary with the Golden Pearls collection using pearls from the island of Iloilo, which was devastated by the 2013 typhoon. Pearls are normally sold at auction by the bucketload, and pearl divers receive a fraction of the value, but one day a Filipina visited me with some beautiful golden pearls from this farm that had been wiped out by the typhoon. It gave me an excuse to visit the country and see the pearl farm, and this collection is how I was able to help the pearl farmers reconstruct their farms, because I have so much to thank the Philippines for.
The first piece of jewellery I designed was my ruby and diamond engagement ring, which was made in Hong Kong. I arrived in Hong Kong in 1985. After school, I lived in Paris with one of my Russian aunts and then moved to Australia to run a business with a friend. I was due to meet another friend in Hong Kong to ride the Trans-Siberian Railway. However, I arrived too late to meet her, so I decided to stay. I took a temporary job selling property and then met someone running Hamptons who wanted me to fill in for a month while he took leave. I was 19, knew nothing, but he didn’t return and I ended up running Hamptons for three years.
