Crafts & Design

Rocketing Upward!

Johnny Rocket is the trading name of Australian friends and creative jewellers John Pearce and Niall Paisley and, whilst they’re a down-to-earth and approachable pair in real life, it’s difficult to write about them and their clients without indulging in a ‘star-fest’ of name dropping.

They’ve worked with Swarovski, with Cartier, with Aspreys and with Gucci.

And with legendary designers like Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford.

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Inspired by the creative relationships between fashion and music, they’ve found themselves creating Jamiroquai’s famous solid silver ‘Sunshine warrior’ head-dress, the jewellery for many of Kylie’s shows and videos and, recently, a Swarovski crystal Fender guitar commissioned for Fender’s 60th birthday and showcased at Harrods as part of the ‘Born to Rock’ exhibition.

The guitar was covered in over 50,000 Swarovski crystals making up the heads of musical icons such as Hendrix, Leadbelly and Kurt Cobain, and also incorporated 60 diamonds and 4.5 grams of sterling silver.

This stunning artefact was sold at auction for the cancer care charity Maggie’s Trust.

Most recently Jack White of the White Stripes has had a custom ring made for the marketing of his new album.

Such are the design talents of John, who started Johnny Rocket in 1997 with Niall joining in 2002, that their 2005 venture into retail in Greenwich (also an award-winner in this showcase) has become a ‘fashion shrine’ combining an opulent jewellery gallery with a workshop and a consultancy area.

In all this they refuse to become overawed by celebrity, particularly pay tribute to the creative energy of the area and “fabulous local people”, and delight in stimulating new talent helping judge awards at Goldsmiths.

So what’s the secret, apart obviously from imagination and technical expertise?

“Learn the rules to break the rules”, says John.  Clearly not a bad credo.

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