Kaye’s a jewel in the saddle

Harkaway resident Kaye Glendenning-Jones has two loves in life, horses and jewellery. At just eight years of age Kaye began her long and fulfilling equestrian career and as she grew up this continued as well as maintaining her roles as both wife and mother.
Over the years her love of horses has seen her move from an interest in pony clubs to compete in a range of shows from state championships to agricultural shows including the Melbourne and Sydney Royal Shows.
Not only was Kaye a successful rider, she was also a competitive hunter after joining the Yarra Glen Hunt Club.
But her true strength was show jumping and, with help from family friend Mary Williamson, three-day eventing became her competition of choice.
Her years of marriage and motherhood saw Kaye take a breather from competition, but she continued to ride and later re-entered the equestrian world through dressage.
But a devastating family tragedy forced Kaye to let go of her equestrian life.
“I went back to work to try and get over the heartache,” she said. “I just threw myself into my work – we always had the jewellery business, so I turned to that in my time of need.”
Two years ago Kaye left the jewellery business named Gilbert and Jones in the capable hands of her son Michael for a much-needed break.
It was during this break that her passion for horses was rekindled.
After purchasing a yearling colt Kaye began to take another look into the world of competition.
Soon she bumped into an old friend, equestrian champion Samantha Bartlett, at one of the meetings and noticed the quality of jewellery was lacking and so an idea became a reality.
“While travelling to various dressage competitions, I noticed the need for quality equine jewellery that in my opinion was not being met,” she said.
“I started fixing some of Sam’s jewellery and thought to myself ‘this is stupid’. I wanted to create a range and it just took off.”
This was the moment when Kaye realised her love for both horses and jewellery could be combined.
EJ & Co is now one of the biggest equine jewellery businesses in the world. She soon started a new company, EJ & Co – E for Equestrian and J – for Jewellery, but eerily EJ is also the initials of her late father John.
“When my father returned from World War II, he became the largest jewellery manufacturer in Australia,” she said.
The family first started jewellery making in Birmingham, England, where one member of the family was said to have set seven diamonds in the crown jewels for the Shah of Iran.
One family branch, headed by Reece Jones, came to Australia and set up a business in Perth.
His son John Jones moved to Melbourne and clearly already had diamonds in his blood. He started his business in Richmond and moved on to Huntingdale during the depression years.
“When he returned from the war my father had most of his pay cheque saved because there wasn’t much to spend money on where he was,” she said. “After the war he bought a double brick home in Richmond for £750 and through his contacts was able to get the business going.
“He took on help and the business grew to the extent that they bought their first factory in Thomas Street, Armadale in 1949.”
Kaye said the company then moved to a factory in Como Street, Malvern – a property the family still owns, but is now rented out.
When she was 14, Kaye left school and spent five years learning what she could about jewellery.
“I left the business to have a family, but returned when I was 40,” she said. “I’ve always had a love of jewellery and this just seemed like a perfect fit.”
It seems her friendship with Samantha Bartlett was also a perfect fit.
“Samantha and I became very close when she had her little girl Olivia, who I became like a surrogate grandmother to,” she said. “I was there to help look after her when she was competing, I went with her to Sydney and wherever else.”
Now Kaye does not only provide equestrian jewellery to the industry, she also supports young riders with sponsorship and her business has recently been endorsed by Princess Nathalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, a bronze medallist of the Danish Dressage Team in the 2008 Olympic Games.
“It’s really nice that we can provide something of quality to an industry that I love,” she said.
“And its really nice to be recognised by someone like Princess Nathalie.”