Francisca Rendic has always been in love with jewellery since her early childhood. “I have always loved and worn jewellery all my life,” she says, “I have always looked for interesting jewellery everywhere I have travelled.”
Miss Rendic is trained in architecture and attained a masters degree in jewellery design at the College of Fine Arts (COFA) at The University of New South Wales (UNSW).
“I am trained as an architect, therefore I had many of the skills needed to make jewellery. It made it easy to start creating jewellery and, during first day of the class, I made my first ring,” explains Francisca.
“I was so excited, and in that moment, I knew being a jeweller was to become my passion and my new possession.”
Once she had made the decision to become a jeweller, Francisca started to take private lessons on a weekly basis with tutor Isabel Moya.
“She had a lot of experience,” Francisca explains. “She was recommended by a friend of mine, who guided me, and showed me the way to create my own style of jewellery.”
For two years, Francisca trained with determination and passion.
“At the time, I had enrolled in different courses, such as a certified diploma in stone setting with Veronica Perez at the Escuela De Artes Aplicadas, in Santiago, Chile, as well as a certified diploma in a workshop for companies and designers in the jewellery sector with Ricardo Domingo.”
Francisca decided then to move to Sydney to further her education and career. “I decided to travel to Australia to study for my masters as I have always been interested in learning different techniques.”
After graduating, she undertook classes by a private tutor, master jeweller Ernst Pfenninger, for a couple of years as well as participating in courses such as ‘Drawing In metal’ a master class headed by Sung-Joon Cho at the University of Sydney and ‘Mould making’ at UNSW. In 2015, Francisca opened her first store in the Sydney CBD. Nowadays, her studio is located in the eastern Sydney suburb of Bronte, where she offers bespoke designs as well as private lessons for anyone interested in understanding how to create silver jewellery pieces.
Francisca also offers jewellery repairs services and the remodeling and redesigning of pre-owned pieces. Her overall work can be described as a union of themed collections. Her style is characterised by the simplicity, boldness and harmony of her designs. Her inspiration relies on simple combinations of shapes and forms enthused by nature. Her jewellery aims to capture and transfer identity, history, culture and originality by creating meaningful pieces, which carries stories within.
“My business is unique because every single jewellery piece is made and designed by myself. Each creation is a limited-edition piece of jewellery, therefore most of them are absolutely one of a kind.”
Francisca joined the JAA in 2015 as she wanted to be part a well-recognised jewellery community.
“Being a JAA member has given me security and support. The JAA protects the interests of the jewellery industry and its consumers and that is exactly what I needed when I opened a store for the first time.”
When it comes to new talent, Francisca has a few words of encouragement, “Be occupied in creating new jewellery designs and enjoy what you are doing rather than trying to compete with other jewellers. Believe in yourself and never give up. Persevere!”
