Photo: Medhi Lacoste / businessoffashion.com
Five-time winner of the British Fashion Council’s NEWGEN Award, Dominic Jones has just been appointed the new Creative Director of Astley Clarke. The British-born jeweler, 31, whose eponymous designs have a cult following as well as a celebrity fan base, joined the company in April, after he was introduced to Astley Clarke by Carmen.
"When Dominic first launched his own collection ... people responded to it immediately because it was beautiful and it was a luxury product but it was very connected to youth culture, and high fashion, in a way that fine jewellery hadn't been for such a long time," British Vogue Editor Fran Burns told BoF. "He will bring something unexpected, brilliant, contemporary and fresh and reach a whole new market for the brand. It’s just really exciting to see how that is going to unfold."
Dominic trained at London’s Sir John Cass School of Art and Design and worked with art collective Wowow before teaming up with business partner Alice Dellal in 2009 to launch Dominic Jones Jewellery. His acclaimed debut collection, Tooth and Nail, won praise from Vogue’s editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, helping to propel his designs into the limelight, and this inaugural line also inspired his subsequently launched DJ by Dominic Jones diffusion range.
With Dominic’s experience as a designer and sculptor, he will ensure oft-forgotten traditional English and European craftsmanship skills remain a focus, while the brand increases its appeal to a growing audience of modern, cosmopolitan, internationally minded women.
Carmen believes the appointment of Jones will help the company tap into a younger generation of consumers. "Many businesses lack the creative energy that Dominic has for understanding his clientele and the whole generation of millennials who haven’t seen the area of jewelry as interesting, so I think there is lots of opportunity for growth," she says.