Turning priceless memories into jewellery

A NOOSA women has created a beautiful collection of “jewellery to remember” using sand, ashes and other materials.

Under the Noosa Collective design label, Cathie Withyman has a range of earrings, necklaces and bracelets, using sand from beaches, to turn memories into physical keepsakes.

A NOOSA women has created a beautiful collection of “jewellery to remember” using sand, ashes and other materials that hold meaning to her or her customers.

Cathie Withyman started Noosa Collective last year, designing a range of earrings, necklaces and bracelets mostly using sand from beaches she frequents, as a way of turning memories into physical keepsakes.

“I have always been a creative person with a love of the ocean and wanted to find a way to blend my love of travel and collecting memories into creating special keepsake jewellery for people,” she said.

Under the Noosa Collective design label, Cathie Withyman has a range of earrings, necklaces and bracelets, using sand from beaches, to turn memories into physical keepsakes.

Cathie custom makes pieces for her customers using sand from their special beach, ashes of loved ones, or other meaningful materials such as flowers and crystals.

“I create jewellery using sand from favourite beaches, which might be where they holidayed as a child, got married, had their honeymoon, or ashes of a loved one or pet to keep them close and take them with you wherever you go,” she said.

“The idea is to provide a beautiful piece of jewellery that can be treasured and worn to remind someone of the special people, places, events or adventures in their lives.”

Using the sand or ashes as a “shoreline”, Cathie designs unique ocean-inspired jewellery pieces that usually resemble waves coming into the beach.

Under the Noosa Collective design label, Cathie Withyman has a range of earrings, necklaces and bracelets, using sand from beaches, to turn memories into physical keepsakes.

“My designs are an artist expression of my love of the ocean and the preciousness of memories.”

Cathie is passionate about creating high-quality, original designs and spends about four days on each piece.

“The delicate nature of my work is intricate and takes a great deal of patience and attention to detail,” she said.

“I source my supplies from great craftspeople all around the world and try to use local artisans wherever possible.”

Under the Noosa Collective design label, Cathie Withyman has a range of earrings, necklaces and bracelets, using sand from beaches, to turn memories into physical keepsakes.

On top of working on her original collections and custom orders, Cathie hosts workshops for customers to design their own pieces and try their hand at jewellery-making.

“I wanted a way to share the creative process and give women the opportunity to take time out of their busy lives to just focus on themselves and create something beautiful,” she said.

“We use crystals and pure crystal sand to create a gorgeous gem.

“We learn to hand-stamp a metal pendant and construct a delicate silver necklace.”

Cathie encourages participants to bring along materials that hold meaning to them, and said that among the items they had used were ashes from their beloved pets and sand from a beach in Fiji that was brought back from a family holiday.

Under the Noosa Collective design label, Cathie Withyman has a range of earrings, necklaces and bracelets, using sand from beaches, to turn memories into physical keepsakes.

“We use three hours to breathe, connect back with inner creative selves, listen to our intuition and just be in the moment,” she said.

Cathie is hoping to see Noosa Collective in more stores across the Sunshine Coast soon.

“I have a goal of supplying to retailers in beach locations who are keen to stock a select range of local beach sand jewellery, made exclusively for them with sand from their local beach,” she said.

Cathie currently sells her jewellery online and at the Sunshine Coast Collective Markets at Coolum, and her Noosa Beach Sand Collection can be found in store at Hearts and Minds Art as well as clothing boutique JoJo’s, both on Hastings St, Noosa.

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