Welcome to Neeni, the home of bespoke custom-designed jewellery, specializing in our hand-mined Australian sapphires and meaningful keepsakes. It's all about connection.

My journey into jewellery design and manufacture began as a child fossicking for sapphires on the Central Queensland Gemfields (see pic), during my first visit to Reward in Rubyvale. My family and I would venture out to the bush during school holidays in search of this elusive precious gem. I cannot tell you how many times I asked my dad and my Uncle John the question every novice asks, "Is THIS a sapphire?" The reply would resonate and echo over several trips with a resounding "No, but keep looking." I cannot tell you how frustrating it was, and I cannot even recall that 'first time' I found a sapphire. However, once you do find your first sapphire, your eye is in, and then they really start appearing like magic.

Fast forward a few years, several jewellery-making courses, and eight years with a master jeweller/watchmaker who taught me every aspect of manufacturing jewellery. Techniques such as saw-piercing, hand-forging metal, wax injecting, casting, engraving, molding, wax carving, gem-setting, and finally computer-aided design (CAD). Neeni Designs was born.

Most jewellers don’t have the luxury of owning sapphire mines and a ready supply of this most magnificent precious gemstone. I cannot explain the feeling when you first uncover a sapphire in the wall of the mine-shaft or at the end of a long arduous wash process. This 150-200 million-year-old gemstone is something to behold, whether in its raw, carved, faceted, or skin-polished state.

At Neeni, we want you to feel at home. We make jewellery that means something, a piece to treasure forever. What you will experience at Neeni is unlike that of a commercial jewellery store; at Neeni, you are a name, not a number, and we honor the uniqueness that is YOU. My purpose, my drive, is to put Aussie sapphires on the map and create not only beautiful jewellery but also keepsakes that retain our connection to each other and this magnificent planet - wearable talismans that remind us of what's most important, reflections of your journey crafted in Earth's most divine precious metals and minerals. "Come with me as the journey continues." (photo circa 1983)