A rocky road - from Munich Oktoberfest to the Sapphire Gemfields in Central QLD Australia
After graduating school Lisa, born and raised in Germany, wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to do with her life. Only one thing was certain - it had to be something creative.
Something different, some kind of craft where at the end of the day she could hold a product in her hand, that she had made, something she had created.
Only by chance she came across a documentary about the old art of Goldsmithing and was intrigued.
All those tools and techniques that seemed out of a different time made her curious, so she decided to do a two week work experience in the trade.
Fast forward to 2012, Lisa successfully completed a 3 year apprenticeship as a Goldsmith in Germany’s renowned jewellery town of Idar-Oberstein.
After a few years gaining experience in her field in Nuremberg and Berlin, she decided to take the next step and visited the master school of the Gold and Silversmithing craftsmanship in Munich, which she left at top of her class in 2017.
During her time in Munich Lisa didn’t only study but also enjoyed a busy social life, visiting the Oktoberfest and spending time with her roommates in the shared house she lived in.
She particularly grew fond of one of them - Mo :)
Mo is a boilermaker by trade, who’s dream it was to leave cold Germany to live life on the sunny side in Australia, ever since he first went there on a work and holiday year in 2013.
Now that Lisa had accomplished her professional degrees, she was also keen to see the world.
Not in her wildest dreams though thinking about leaving Germany for good to live half a world away.
Three years of travel adventures in New Zealand and Australia, enjoying good weather, beautiful beaches and unique nature and wildlife, changed her mind. And with Covid hitting Germany very hard the deal was sealed, Lisa and Mo would try everything to stay in Australia.
By coincidence the opportunity for Lisa to be sponsored as a Jeweller in the Sapphire Gemfields presented itself. Lisa and Mo packed up the van and made their way to Rubyvale.
Not quite the beach life Lisa always dreamt of (and still is:)), but an absolutely unique opportunity to learn everything about Australian Sapphires, mining and cutting, not only from books but first hand.
While Lisa still preferred sitting at a jewellers bench setting these locals beauties, Mo’s inner treasure hunter awoke.
He would spend every spare minute specking or digging on the surface at the local fossicking fields, excited about any tiny piece of color he could find.
He quickly started to learn cutting the Sapphires and Zircons he found, but specking and surface digging with temperatures between 35-40°C throughout Summer can be tedious work with little reward.
In August 2023 Lisa and Mo bought two small mining claims together with a friend. Now Mo can mine underground all year around with pleasant temperatures, although it still is very hard, physical work.
The exciting moment he cleans out the pulsator, where Sapphire and Zircons are collected during the washing process, makes it all worth it.
So now that they had a mine supplying rough Sapphires, that Mo could cut only one thing was missing - some nice jewellery to set the treasures in.
And that’s when the idea of their own small business EARTH TO OCEAN JEWELLERY was born.
Why EARTH TO OCEAN?
As mentioned before, Lisa is dreaming of living at the ocean, it’s her happy place, her place of peace and serenity.
So that part is clear :)
The earth represents the very unique (and sometimes quirky ;)) life in the Gemfields as one part of their journey.
It’s the earth the Sapphires come from and that led Lisa and Mo to start their own small business adventure that will eventually take them to the ocean.
