“I don’t want people to take off my jewellery,” Tashjian Barklie says, twirling her fingers around a fine gold T-bar teardrop-pendant chain. The necklace itself is a design from Barklie’s first collection from her eponymous brand Tashji, which launched in December last year. Once an aspiring journalist, Barklie turned to the age-old trade of goldsmithing in 2017, studying full-time for two years before landing a rare opportunity in the workshop of a local family-run Auckland jewellery business, where she is an in-house jeweller by day, before retreating to her own studio, designing and crafting Tashji by night.

The sudden shift in career for Barklie wasn’t as initially obvious as she thought. After graduate internships at local fashion and lifestyle publications and years-long stints in hospitality and retail management, there was one thing that Barklie remained captivated by: jewellery.

At the time, Barklie didn’t even think it was a viable career path. “One day, I was on the bus and I was thinking to myself, ‘Can you even learn how to make jewellery here [in Aotearoa]?’ And then — I’m all about the universe sending us signs — I saw this billboard in Kingsland for a jewellery course.” A little more research showed that Barklie was eligible for a student loan and, “I quit my job. On the same day,” she recalls.

Fast forward four years to the launch of her own brand, and Barklie is still as enthralled by metals and jewels. She later points out that her fine gold chain — the one that no one should ever need to take off — is called the ‘Ātahu Necklace’, with ‘ātahu’ meaning ‘charm’ and ‘fascination’ in Te Reo Māori. And it’s that fascination, Barklie explains, that empowered her to forge a new path in jewellery, disrupting an old-school goldsmith mentality of what traditional jewellery should look like and what it should represent.

“We don’t have to take it [jewellery] so seriously,” Barklie says confidently. “The seriousness isn’t in the design; it’s [in] the meaning of it.” She references Cartier in the 20th Century, and poet Paul Clausel’s literary depiction of jewellery as a declaration of faith, “not only because the creation of its sublime materials is shrouded in mystery, but also because we offer jewellery and accept it out of love,” he writes.

That love, and sentimentality too, plays a big role in driving Barklie to expand her range and connect with a wider audience. Goldsmiths have the pleasure — unlike other craftspeople in neighbouring industries — of creating in a whole other dimension. “You get people crying in a jewellery shop all the time,” Barklie explains. It’s a unique experience that she feels honoured to witness: being entrusted to recreate or repurpose a talisman of love and devotion — or knowing that a Tashji creation might evoke those same emotions one day.

“The philosophy of jewellery is what gets me. There is nothing else like jewellery.” Barklie elaborates: “This sounds a little pretentious, but it’s almost like poetry. There is no reason that poetry exists; it just does because it’s beautiful and we like to hear it.” Jewellery, Barklie explains, exists to serve a similar purpose: “It doesn’t cover your naked body. It’s purely for adornment. There is no real reason or purpose for it.”

And there was no other reason for Barklie to launch her own brand with a small yet considered range of seven pieces than to simply create long-lasting jewellery — modern-day heirlooms — that capture her flirtatious spontaneity in a refined manner. With each piece made in solid sterling silver or nine-carat yellow gold, Barklie is quick to point out the importance of using solid metals in jewellery construction. Education is vital when investing in jewellery, explains Barklie. While many brands take to gold plating to offer a more financially accessible product, the result does not have the longevity, nor sustainability, to last beyond a lifetime. Instead, such pieces require a higher level of maintenance to upkeep their appearance, and, more often than not, they’re not able to be cleaned, melted down, and reworked like solid, un-plated metal.

Tashji’s debut seven-piece collection consists of two necklaces, three sets of earrings, and two rings — a nod to Barklie’s daisy obsession. “It’s my mum,” Barklie laughs. “My mum and I have always been obsessed with daisies, and so I just homed in on it.” Barklie counts her mother, and her aunt Corrinne — who she sadly never got to meet — as her biggest inspirations. “South Africans are very big on jewellery,” she says. Growing up South African meant that custom-made jewellery was the norm, with much importance placed on these custom pieces that her mother and aunt commissioned — so much so, that, by her 22nd birthday, she was able to call many of these pieces her own. “When I was going through a rough time and I was a little lost, my mum gave me my aunty Corinne’s rings. And I love them. That was a massive thing [for me]. I want to make things like that,” Barklie says.

Gemstones are next on the list for Barklie’s future Tashji collections: “I have studied diamonds, and I would love to know more about other gems. My favourite are sapphires. That’s where I want to be. With Tashji, that’s where I want to take it. I want to start making engagement rings and big gem pieces that aren’t serious. Like this!” Barklie shows off her chunky gold dome engagement ring, set with a dazzling, 2.06-carat blue sapphire. She’s enthusiastic about extending her offering with custom-made commissioned pieces — all for romance, of course.

“It’s all very emotional, this jewellery business,” Barklie says. “It’s also the hardest thing I’ve ever done. But extremely rewarding, and what’s even nicer about the reward is that it’s literally a little shiny trophy. You see it polish from this lump of dirty metal to this shiny precious thing that everybody loves.”

Words by Courtney Joe. Images supplied.
This feature was originally published in Fashion Quarterly magazine, autumn 2021.