Falling Back In Love With Your Locals: Chenevix Jewellery

At Vanilla Magazine, we have been on a mission to help you fall back in love with your local independents and, this time, we think we’ve brought the right amount of sparkle to catch your eye!

Chenevix Jewellery has been operating on Market Hill in Woodbridge since 2009, but owner Susannah Chenevix-Trench’s history with gems goes back even further than that.

With an extensive number of qualifications under her belt since 1993, Susannah has travelled extensively for work, living for 10 years in the Far East where she was a consultant gemmologist for the Hong Kong Tourist Association and finally settling in the beautiful Suffolk countryside, opening her shop in the Market Square in 2009.

She told us: “Our jewellery is different in the way that it’s classic but contemporary rather than traditional. I am inspired by the stunning light and landscapes that surround us here in Suffolk. Being a gemmologist, I am a bit of a purist when it comes to gemstones and like to use natural stones created by our natural world. “

“We do a lot of work redesigning old heirloom jewellery, using the existing, often sentimental and beautiful stones, we can create some fabulous contemporary pieces that become new, more modern and much-loved wearable pieces.”

Although lockdown meant a temporary closure of her shop, Susannah found that it gave her a lot of time to do her design work and build on her existing online presence, which she aims to continue doing.

Now that her shop is back open, she’s ready to welcome her customers back, explaining: “I think people have been relieved to be able to come back, even just to look in the window, which we change every season. We won the Woodbridge ‘Best Small Window’ competition at Christmas which we were very proud of!”

Susannah and her team are looking to continue improving on what they do and welcome the shift to local shopping by shoppers and recent ‘staycationers’.

She said: “There’s been a lot of publicity about supporting independents and I think that’s such a good thing, places like Woodbridge thrive because of the independents. We have a lot of loyal customers who come back regularly and that’s because we’ve built up a relationship and trust with them.

“It’s like seeing old friends again, I know that sounds like a cliche but it does feel like that. It restores your faith in the way of business where you know a lot of your customers and they know you personally. I feel proud of this business and although I’m not from Suffolk originally, I feel very grateful to this area for supporting me and allowing me to be a part of the community.”

Be sure to check out the website – www.chenevixjewellery.co.uk – and come for a browse at 40 Market Hill, Woodbridge IP12 4LU. To keep up to date with all of Susannah’s work, follow her on Instagram @chenevixjewellery.