Born in Austria and the daughter and granddaughter of jewellers, Barbara Laws caught the bug early and trained as a goldsmith. Her parents’ factory supplied many of the jewellery shops in Austria, and she carried on the family business before launching her own brand, the wittily named Gem & Tonic.
A course in colour analysis focused Barbara’s attention on how jewel and metal tones could light up the wearer and enhance skin, hair and eye tone. Everything she creates is designed around the beauty of the stones and the way they can flatter the wearer. Gem buds are her hero product: stackable, multifaceted or round semi-precious gemstones on fine 14-carat gold chains. They come as rings. It is easy to stack three, even on shorter fingers, or as earrings — elegant single stones hanging from a fine gold chain loop.
Other ranges include multifunctional jewelled chains which can be worn together as one long chain or separated to create a shorter necklace, bracelet and ankle chain; Glance and Whisper gold earrings in the shape of an eye and a mouth, worn deliberately mismatched; and personalised gold initials strung with tiny jewels on fine-as-silk chains. The pièce de résistance is the Rainbow Necklace, bold and beautiful and guaranteed to make you smile. It is held together by a clasp fashioned into a cloud and raindrop.
With a truly personalised service, Barbara is happy to advise on what will best suit you. Pieces are made to order from a selection of mouth-watering stones, ranging from pretty pastels such as rose quartz, citrine, amethyst and aquamarine, to richer colours such as sapphire, ruby, garnet and emerald. Narrowing your choice of stacking rings down to three is virtually impossible. Customers inevitably come back for more mix-and-match combinations. Watch out. You may become addicted!
You can find and commission Barbara’s beautiful designs at: http://gemandtonic.uk/ instagram @gemandtonic_ Sunna Yates
