Hello, Gorgeous! I am Gin, the one responsible for all of this madness!

As the only person behind Gin Fon Ask studio I design & make all of the jewellery, take pictures, reply to messages and do all the behind the scene things that are necessary so you could enjoy your new treasures.

If you would like to know more about me, how I started out as a goldsmith & created Gin Fon Ask jewellery studio then keep reading!

 

 

This will be a long read so grab a cup of tea with some biscuits to dip....

I was born in 1991 to an architect family. As a kid I always liked doing something creative and spend the most of my time sitting at home exploring new techniques my parents and grandparents came up with. After trying other things like playing the piano I quickly realised I liked making things the most. And that is how visual arts quickly became my life obsession.

 As I grew older just creating things was not enough... Of course I wanted to wear them! That is exactly how I became a frequent visitor of secondhand shops and began experimenting with my style. Oh boy how many styles I had and how often they would evolve and change! At the same time I got to know about  Vienozinskis art school and desperately wanted to get in there as my main after school activity. After some exams I got in! It was great to improve my skills but 4 year later my biggest joy came to an end and it was time to find something new.

 I was hanging around at my friends house and here it was... A book full of jewels! Like literally! I wanted to know how one silver ring was made and was way too curious to just let it go. My mum, being the most supportive parent one can have, found a jewellery teacher who was willing to take me in and teach the basics of the craft. That teacher was Azuolas Leonas Vaitukaitis and looking back I could not have had a better one. He was absolutely amazing. We often had new projects, he encouraged me to create new designs and showed me how to do it. We even joined few real jewellers exhibitions that boosted my confidence to keep going. At that time I was absolutely certain what I want to do with my life! 

That is when I decided that jewellery is exactly what I wanted to do!

 With that optimism I enrolled to Middlesex University’s ‘Fashion jewellery and accessories’ bachelors course and moved to my beloved London. 2 years past by and I was already in my internship year. As a curious person I am, I decided it is time to learn new skills & explore other possibilities.

 With that in mind I was searching for any internship that was not jewellery. I got extremely lucky and not even a week had passed and I was already working for a shoe designer- Joanne Staker. I did a lot of drawing and studio work, helped out in London Fashion Week’s backstage… It was fun to try but I knew I was on a wrong path.

 This time I was lost and didnt know what to do. I went to uni for a presentation and started talking to one girl that I knew was from my course just one year ahead. I asked where she did her internships and she told me that one of them was with a jewellery/ object designer that was one of my biggest inspirations in the early days. I got in touch with the designer and his team and few months later moved to Amsterdam! The designer was no other but Ted Noten and I was over the moon I managed to get in! We had a lot of different tasks like shaping and polishing jewellery, experimenting with new ideas and even reopening a museum!

 The time was coming to an end and I had to return to London. At this stage of my life I was bored and demotivated so I decided to graduate my university with a project of 3 backpacks instead of jewellery and that is exactly what I did. Because I was so lost I was not sure what to do so after my studies I stayed in London trying to decide what was next.

 Soon enough I realised there was one more thing I have never spend enough of time working with- leather. I was lucky to find a perfect place for improving my skills and this time it was no other than umbrella and leather goods designer Oliver Ruuger and leather goods expert Volker Koch. Volker being from a family of leather craftsmen and even worked for Hermes, taught me the basics of leather work and Oliver sprinkled some umbrella making knowledge on top. 

 With a lucky accident of me having to make an umbrella part for a photoshoot I got reminded that my biggest passion is working with metals. This time I finally made up my mind and chose to continue on my goldsmiths path.

The Gin Fon Ask brand was born and the rest is a nice history <3 

 

 

Do you want to know something cool? My rings accidentally made it on one of the most popular Lithuanian magazines 'LAIMA' cover!