HERITAGE

Once shrouded in mystery, the story of Ohliguer emerged from the not-too-distant past. A great grandmother married to the last Tsars cousin, presented to English and European Royalty and said to have regularly dined with the infamous Rasputin. Her father supplied jewels the size of reptilian eggs from his mines in the Ural Mountains to the royal family and the most renowned Russian jewellers. She fled the empire at the height of the revolution with her treasured newborn daughter hidden in a wicker basket.

The jewels of renowned craftsmen including Faberge, once worn as she glittered across Russian and European palaces were concealed, woven intricately into her undergarments. Their journey took them a world away to Shanghai where a new name and birth certificate ensured obscurity, distancing them from the terrors of the fall of the Russian empire. However, it would not be until years later after pirates, wars and insurmountable loss, that they would settle in Australia. Never to talk of their past, until their granddaughter's discovered what they had buried.

Jessica follows in the steps of her great, great grandfather. In addition to supplying gemstones to the Russian Royals and Faberge. Now Jessica is returning to her illustrious heritage, having undertaken years of intensive training with Australia´s leading jewellers and honing her eye for design with a Masters in Jewellery Design in Rome. Her time in Rome studying with the jewellery greats taught her the power of creativity and the artistry of jewels.

Exhorted by Sotheby´s jewellery historian, Amanda Triossi and the creator of one of the most iconic designs in the history of Italian high jewellery, Luca Bartoleschi, she founded her own Maison with her sister, Holly. Holly shares her lifelong passion for fine jewellery and her PhD which delved into the history of Tiffany & Co., Burberry and other luxury brands brings a fresh strategic take to Ohliguer.