John Hardy (jewelry) - History

History

John Hardy jewelry was founded by Canadian designer and artist, John Hardy, in 1975. He visited Bali in the mid-1970s and the island's jewelry-making traditions raised his interest. He began learning the techniques of the local artisans then developed his first pieces by applying new design concepts to traditional Balinese techniques.

The John Hardy compound was built in Mumbal, Bali in 1996 and is the company production center where the jewelry is created. It also serves as a living and gathering space with an organic farm and low impact buildings.

In 1999, Guy Bedarida, a senior designer of haute joaillerie of the Place Vendôme, joined the company as Head Designer and expanded Hardy’s design concepts to include the use of classical European jewelry techniques and new motifs inspired by nature and ancient East Asian art styles and themes.

In 2007, then John Hardy president and currently company CEO, Damien Dernoncourt, with Head Designer and Creative Director, Bedarida, purchased the company from Hardy. That same year the company headquarters was moved to Hong Kong and a satellite office was opened in New York.

The company opened its first flagship store in Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta in 2010. In 2011, it opened its first men’s and lifestyle store at The Landmark, Hong Kong.

Read more about this topic:  John Hardy (jewelry)

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “To care for the quarrels of the past, to identify oneself passionately with a cause that became, politically speaking, a losing cause with the birth of the modern world, is to experience a kind of straining against reality, a rebellious nonconformity that, again, is rare in America, where children are instructed in the virtues of the system they live under, as though history had achieved a happy ending in American civics.”
    —Mary McCarthy (1912–1989)

    “It may be well to remember that the highest level of moral aspiration recorded in history was reached by a few ancient Jews—Micah, Isaiah, and the rest—who took no count whatever of what might not happen to them after death. It is not obvious to me why the same point should not by and by be reached by the Gentiles.”
    —Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)

    “The history of philosophy is to a great extent that of a certain clash of human temperaments.”
    —William James (1842–1910)