Tribal Jewellery – Our story

Our Story

Namaste, salaam, chao, sawat dee krup, hi and welcome. We hope our enthusiasm for tribal jewellery and this website will impart as much enthusiasm and enjoyment to you as it does for us.

Gary Draper, the founder of Tribal Jewellery pursued a career in the precious jewellery industry, in London and Sydney, for over thirty years. Gary is a qualified geologist, gemologist, diamond and gem grader, jewellery valuer and past lecturer in gemology.

In addition to his family and career, Gary’s other interests include sport, photography and travel, he has traveled to some forty five countries to date. For those who may be interested you can view many of Gary’s travel shots  by clicking on Travel Pics in the menu bar.

It was some 15 years ago while trekking  in the Himalayas that Gary became aware of the beauty and significance of tribal jewellery. He has been fascinated by this relatively undiscovered, (compared to precious jewellery), facet of the jewellery world ever since. In Gary’s words “There is always something new to learn and the more I learn the more my fascination grows. I came to realise that tribal jewellery’s timeless beauty and craftsmanship is founded on a long history of traditions and behind each piece there is a story” 

As the collection grew it became apparent that those who viewed it also seemed fascinated by the beauty, craftsmanship and the stories. After successfully testing the market by wholesaling to retailers we were encouraged by friends and associates to take the next step and so tribaljewellery.co was born.

For Gary it is the perfect scenario to his life in the precious gem and jewellery business. It provides the opportunity for him to combine his training and expertise with his interests in travel and photography.
You can probably imagine how exciting & interesting it is to search through the medinas, bazaars, and souks of faraway lands on an endless treasure hunt to find the next beautiful piece.

It is also satisfying to know that our success goes a little way towards helping people in faraway lands preserve their traditional skills and culture.

We hope that you enjoy looking through the Tribal Jewellery website. We also hope that you are able to find a piece of tribal jewellery that you will enjoy and cherish for the rest of your life.
If you have any questions at all please ask, we will be happy to assist you.
Best wishes and happy treasure hunting.
From the Tribal Jewellery team.

Our Services

We are pleased to offer the following services to our customers.

1) A unique collection of tribal and ethnic jewellery for sale. The majority of the pieces being hand picked in the country of their making. We also offer a small selection of jewellery made in our workshop from pieces collected in our travels

2) As Gary has over 30 years dealing in precious gems and jewellery we also offer a small collection of precious gems and jewellery for sale at incredibly low wholesale prices. We are happy to provide certificates of authenticity and value from Australia’s number one gem testing laboratory, The Gem Studies Laboratory, upon request.
We also offer certified diamonds for sale with the most internationally respected certificates from the GIA or HRD laboratories. If you have any queries about precious gems and or jewellery please ask.

3) We buy all types jewellery from diamonds and precious gems to old gold. If you are thinking of selling some of your jewellery email us with a brief description and we’ll let you know if it is of interest to us and what to do next.

4) We offer a “wish list” service for people who are looking out for a particular piece of tribal or precious jewellery. We also offer a custom design service for precious jewellery and we can add to or alter some tribal jewellery; for instance you may wish for a pendant strung on to a particular bead necklace. Please email us your request and we will endeavour to help you anyway we can.

5) We offer a Loyalty Reward program. We don’t do discount sales but we do offer discounts to our loyal customers. Please click on the Loyalty Rewards menu button for more information

6) We provide a gift service, to the person you choose, with a hand written message as detailed by you.
7) We also provide information about ethnic and precious jewellery through our Blog. All comments are most welcome.