Our story

The story of Jasper Rocks is also OUR story. Mine and Own's. Stretching back to our first whisky-fuelled encounter in 2012 in Surin, north-east Thailand, when he gave me a bracelet he'd made, which I kept long after I'd forgotton who he was. By chance we met again a year later and to his amazement I showed him that same red howlite bracelet I'd treasured.

So let's back up a bit, those who follow us know that we're a husband, wife and now 2 x baby small biz. Own makes jewellery, always has, always will and it's me, Philippa, who launched him online in Thailand and since moving back to the UK, manages the business behind it. And I love it!

Own has made jewellery since he was 10 years old. He accompanied his uncle to Bangkok from Isaan to sell jewellery at the family shop in the capital's Chatuchak market. From hereon, crafting became his passion and he'd not be truly happy doing anything else. Fastforward to 2013, a year after that first meeting, I was teaching English in a school in Eastern Thailand and living in his hometown of Surin, we met and fell in love. In those first months he was making and selling wholesale to shops and markets in Bangkok and helping a friend stock a shop on Koh Phi Phi (note: lots of island staycations). It wasn't until we moved south to Phuket together for a new teaching job for me that we began selling together at Phuket's Old Town Sunday walking street market which was a riot. It was around this time I decided to launch the jewellery online and started on eBay before opening our Etsy shop the following year. This introduced us to international customers and earned us a wide and loyal following, many friends of which still support us today.

After a while doing the Sunday market, we decided to open our own shop in Phuket and Own happily sold there everyday, meeting holiday-makers, and I joined him at the weekends. It was blissfully fun.

Of course we live in the UK now (that's another story) but it doesn't really matter where we live, we have so much to offer, so many exciting plans for the future, and an empire to build!

I've always known, pushed and celebrated the fact that Own is the brand, it's his bohemian-dreadlocked-hippie-on-the-beach spirit that inhabits every piece of jewellery we make and that's what people want. That's why a purchase at our shop in Phuket would often come with a request for a selfie with him, and why I wouldn't dream of doing a market here in the UK without him. But our story is also entrenched in every earring, every event, because we're so damn passionate about making this our life, fleeing the 9-to-5 with fervour and getting to hang out with eachother every single day. I love be be reminded of our badass beginnings and it's our unique story i don't ever want to forget. I cannot wait to share our stories with our two children when they're older.

Own is forever the deadlocked, barefoot, beach-dwelling man I fell for, who walked into Jah Bar in Surin and both our lives changed forever. I happen to believe we're the perfect mix of creative and logic minds in unison. Jasper Rocks doesn't work without both our input, and we're so excited to ramp this up, live a completely unconventional life we have moulded and love, and bring you along for the ride.

 ~ Philippa