Chapter 1 - How we got here

For those that don’t know me, my name is Mary and I’m the co-founder of David Ramzy, a third generation jewellery brand based in Sydney, Australia.

When I was a young girl, I always dreamt of one day working as an editor at Vogue. My bedroom walls were covered in cut outs from Vogue magazine and Harpers Bazaar - copies that I'd gotten my hands on when local businesses gave them away for free once they became outdated. Unsurprisingly, my favourite movie of all time is the Devil Wears Prada; it was everything I always wanted, the fashion, the models, the writing and editing - cliche, I know. 

Pictured: me in the early 2000s, deep in my Vogue editor, fashion dreams. 

But alas, that life was not meant for me and instead I became a “hotshot” corporate lawyer…until now. Well I’m still a lawyer. But I also get to chase my dreams running David Ramzy with my husband and now writing this blog every week (perhaps it will one day make it into Vogue).

Growing Up

I grew up in a family who all worked in fine jewellery. My dad is a polisher, my uncle is a jeweller, my mum works for one of Australia’s largest fine jewellery groups. So naturally, when I joined the workforce at 13 years and 9 months old, my first job was working with mum at her warehouse during school holidays, where I sorted through thousands of pieces of fine jewellery to get them ready to go into retail stores and packed orders for hundreds of those stores every day. 

Pictured: me and my mum when I was circa 2 years old. Look at that chunky piece of gold wrapped around mum's wrist!!!

By the time I was 15 or 16, I spent evenings and weekends working at one of the fine jewellery retail stores that my mum looked after. This (and family conversations over dinner) is where I learnt the ins and outs of fine jewellery, how gold was measured, why different types of metals were used and when to use them, the different types of precious stones were and the list goes on and on. 

Of course I eventually went off to uni, started my career in banking while I was studying full time, and didn’t think much more about the fine jewellery world. After all, when you grow up exposed to something, you always want to escape and explore what else is out there. And explore I did. 

I ended up working in banking for 6 years. Once I’d finished my double degree in law and economics, I decided I’d better give this law thing a go lest I regret it. So I became a lawyer at a large firm. And very quickly realised that practicing law is wayyyyyyy less glamorous than I thought it would be. It was in fact the opposite of glamorous. But I stuck it out and I’m glad I did because it eventually led me to where I am today.

Starting David Ramzy 

The older I got, the more I loved receiving and buying fine jewellery. There was so much value in each piece and that value presented in so many ways - there was the financial value in the sense that the pieces were made of real gold and the gold appreciated over time; there was the sentimental value because I’d keep the piece forever and always remember who it was that gifted it and the memories that came with that time; and lastly, the value that came from knowing that we’d made a sustainable choice because we’d chosen to invest in a piece that would last and could be worn time and time again, rather than something that would be worn today and discarded tomorrow. 

Having seen so much in the fine jewellery industry, and having been exposed to the extremes from the highest end, most expensive fine jewellery to the most accessible fine jewellery, I knew there was so much that I wanted to do in the space. High end fine jewellery is so expensive and honestly, most of it is so outdated. On the other hand, more accessible fine jewellery (and I mean real fine jewellery, not vermeil and gold-plated jewellery that is marketed as “fine jewellery” when in reality it’s not!) is again outdated, manufactured in bulk and on-sold by retailers who haven’t designed a single piece of jewellery. 

I was mulling on this for a few years while working away as a lawyer. And then I met Ernest.

We met on Hinge in late 2022 and had our first date at Una Mas in Coogee. Conversation was great, our interests were aligned and we had a heap in common. I figured this would either go somewhere or I’d never see him again. So I told him about this jewellery business that I wanted to start. He loved it. And the rest is kinda history…

Until next week.