Elizabeth goes Victorian

Her jewelry business all happened by chance. Elizabeth Payte was a civil engineer by profession and worked as one during the first 14 years of her marriage. At age 35, she thought of changing the course of her life by enrolling in interior design at the Assumption Convent. By this time, she was already a mother of three boys. She was the oldest student in her class but this did not discourage her from pursuing her course and finishing it in three years with flying colors. The same year that she graduated, her oldest son was graduating Grade 7.

Her sons liked giving their teachers little gifts for Teacher’s Day and Christmas. To save money, she made the gifts herself, usually a piece of jewelry like a bracelet or a necklace. She would buy the beads and other materials and would design and execute them herself. The teachers loved her pieces and soon she was making also for her friends.

Then during a trip to Tokyo, her brother who was based there brought her to Le Droguerie, a store that sold glass beads and jewelry parts, and manuals for jewelry making. She decided to buy the manuals and the exquisite raw materials to upgrade her pieces. Her friends loved her new collection and urged her to join a bazaar. Her pieces were a huge success, inspiring her to continue and expand her jewelry business.

Her course in interior design was not for naught. She offered to do the houses of her friends and through word of mouth, her interior design business flourished. She made her own lamps and chandeliers to go with the interiors of her design. In fact, way before I met her, I did an article on the stores at the LRI Building on Reposo St. and I entered her store because I got attracted to the chandelier and lamps that were on display. She also had her jewelry on display but I was mesmerized by her chandelier so I did not pay attention to anything else but that. I featured the chandelier in my article and that same day, a client phoned in and bought it and Elizabeth got five more orders of the same chandelier. The chandelier was retro in style and made of old brass from Italy, antique glass balls, semi precious stones, crystals, silk flowers and pearls.

As if her life was not hectic enough as a jeweler, interior designer, wife and mother, Elizabeth managed to enroll in art classes at the Ayala Museum. She concentrated on painting in impressionism style using oil as her medium. After one year of art lessons, she felt she was good enough to teach so she started to hold classes with five or more students. My sister and her son became her students but my sister insisted on private lessons with her. Today the artworks of my sister and her son Stefan are proudly displayed around her house and I’ve noticed an improvement in their technique with each new piece.

Elizabeth’s jewelry is sold at Rocks in Greenbelt 5, second floor, and at the gift shop of Manila Peninsula. “No two pieces are alike as a rule in my design. With the wide range of ladies accessories on the market, I make it a point that my pieces are distinctive so that they are difficult to copy. Like my mesh necklaces, I get the stainless steel thread like wires in Germany. My girls and I crochet them manually. Very labor intensive. I also make crocheted bags with the same wires. I fill them up with beads and they’re very pretty. During my last trip to Tokyo, I bought obi materials and made them into bags as well. My clients seem to like them. I go to flea markets when I travel to buy the vintage components like glass beads from France, mother-of-pearl and other cameos from India, and glass leaves from Murano.”

 She also accepts redesigning and reinventing old pieces to give them a new look. Her Victorian collection of chokers for this season is so tastefully designed even Queen Victoria would revel in them.

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 Call Rocks at 632-7281342.