In Conversation with The Natural Jewellery Museum

What do you get when you have a love of natural history and you adore jewellery? You get Natural Jewellery Museum.

A jewellery and lifestyle brand curated by Bam Jansanjai who is inspired by the aesthetic of natural history studies and museum. A fascinating combo, we spent some time with her to find out more…

Tell us about the journey that led you to launch your brand, Natural Jewellery Museum…

A: It stared purely from my passion. I am a jewellery designer, I’ve been interested in art since childhood and I aways dreamed of becoming an artist. To make a long story short, I chose to study jewellery design in college. However, I secretly have another dream of working in a field related to nature. I find the art of nature very fascinating and I love plants and animals. My favourite places on earth are museums of natural history and botanical gardens. I literally have the whole jungle of biodiversity stuffed animals at home.

Therefore, NATURAL JEWELLERY MUSEUM is what connects my passion in jewellery design and the nature world together. It is like the intersection of my two parallel dreams.

The jewellery you create is inspired by nature history, what is it about history that you love?

A: Well, as I said I find the art of nature very fascinating. Therefore, I wanted to make jewellery related to this topic. However, if you think about it, there are uncountable designs of jewellery inspired by nature or shaped like one as jewellery and nature have been closely related since the ancient time. So I decided to look at the relationship of both jewellery and nature in a new perspective through the aesthetic of natural history studies. I wanted to interpret the beauty of systematic archival system, museum specimen preservation and conservation, the display of the specimens through my jewellery designs.

How do you want people to feel when they wear your designs?

A: Simple, I just want people who wear my designs to be happy and feel like they are proudly a part of the brand. We offer products that are one of a kind, unique, wearable as well as collectable.

I want people to have fun exploring the collections and discover jewellery in a new aspect. They can curate their very own jewellery collection of specimens and name it. Therefore, I prefer to treat/call my customers as curators and collectors rather ‘a customer’ that purchases a product from the brand. I want them to feel involved.

Who’s involved in the business and what are their roles?

A: My brother, Atikhun Jansanjai. He is a graphic designer. We grew up together and went to the same art school. He’s two years older than me so we are very close to each other. We always share the same interests. I am the founder of the brand and in charge of the brand concept as a whole and product design and development part. My brother on the other hand is the one who takes care of the graphic design and art direction. If you look at our brand you can see that we pay so much attention to the graphics and that’s one of the most important identities of our brand.

What advice would you offer anyone who wants to start their own jewellery brand?

A: Sometimes you don’t have to wait to feel perfectly ready to start doing something new or challenging because if you wait, it might be too late or you might lose your passion already. Just know yourself and start by taking small steps and see how it goes. Stay ambitious and at the same time, stay humble.

Q: Do you have plans to expand the range in future, if so, what can we expect?

A: Yes, there will be more interesting collections of jewellery coming up for sure! I also want to expand the range into fine jewellery as well. In the future, you can also expect some lifestyle goods inspired by the concept of natural history study. So please stay tuned!

Q: Talk us through an average day in your life…

A: My daily life is quite packed. I’m working two jobs. I’m working on my own brand and I am currently working in a product development team for an international fine jewellery manufacturer. It’s good to be active and to meet new challenges every day but I need to make sure that I have have time to rest too.

Our readers love to travel, what destination is on your must visit list?

A: Jardim Botânico Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

What does self care mean to you?

A: Spending time outdoor, gardening and playing with my cats.

What’s your 5 year vision for the brand?

A: I want my brand to grow bigger, not just in terms of sales, but I want to connect with more people who have the same passion and interests as me. I want NATURAL JEWELLERY MUSEUM to be more than just a brand but a community of curators and collectors that love our products and who resonate with the concept and aesthetic of our brand.