Ten years after launching its first personalised jewellery collection, Sydney-based wholesaler Uberkate has launched a new software system that will make its gold and silver jewellery “even more personal”.
The company’s new system, designed in-house by director Adam Simpson, enables customers to have any handwritten words transformed into “a high-quality engraving” on the company’s jewellery.
Uberkate founder and managing director Kate Sutton said that until now the company has produced jewellery “made to order” with customers’ chosen “words, names, messages” engraved on them – but only in three ‘Uberkate fonts’ to meet the company’s design aesthetic.
“The new software will however allow customers to personalise their jewellery even further with their own handwriting,” she said.
“A customer simply has to select the item of jewellery they want and give the ‘message’ they want copied to the store owner who can fax or scan it directly to our head office where we will use the software program to engrave it.”
Sutton believes the new software program’s ability to accurately reproduce handwriting will add great sentimental value to every item of Uberkate jewellery “especially in a time which is largely dominated by computer-generated text”.
She was inspired to create the service for customers after her husband arranged for some lyrics from a song he wrote for her to be engraved in a cuff for their 10th wedding anniversary last year.
“It was the most emotive piece of jewellery I had ever received,” she said.
Sutton then she has created a similar personalised cuff for her aunt’s 70th Birthday featuring around a dozen signatures of the significant people in her life.
“We searched through old cards and letters to find signatures of people that have passed away but are still special to her such as her first husband and her parents and then got the signatures of people still living like her second husband, two daughters and first grandchild and had them all engraved on the one item – it is a very special piece of jewellery.”
Uberkate’s software system can engrave up to 50 words (depending on the jewellery item chosen) but Sutton stresses that the process is not limited to just the letters of the alphabet.
“We’ve done suns, smiley faces, whiskers, Chinese characters… wherever there’s meaning, there’s a place for it on an Uberkate piece,” she said.