The jewellery designer creating art with the most enigmatic of gems

Margot McKinney is a fourth-generation Australian jewellery designer harnessing the rich colours in rare opal to evoke the vibrant landscapes of her home.

Using the most enigmatic of gems – opal – as the centrepiece of her highly expressive and bold designs, she selects pearls and a myriad of precious gemstones to accentuate the colourful depths, shapes and patterns hidden within the molecular structure of the hero opal.

Margot’s approach to opals is to surround the colours of the stone ‘in a slightly unexpected way, so it’s like wearing a piece of art on your hand or your body. When you are designing it is almost like you are painting – but with gems.’ The end result is a spectacular piece that captivates the observer and sends them on a daydream-journey to the very same Australian landscape scenes that inspired Margot when she commenced her design.

Margot’s pieces use Australian Boulder Opal and the rarest form of this gem – Black Opal – found mostly at Lightning Ridge in outback New South Wales. She prides herself on the relationships she has forged directly with the opal miners who prise these mesmerising gems from the sun-baked arid earth, and makes it a point to visit the mines as often as she can.

Very few jewellery designers have this level of personal involvement with their supply chains, and it means that her design philosophy is grounded in people and places as much as in colour and form. This inherent authenticity in her approach sets her work apart, and adds a vitally important dimension to the environmentally-derived beauty of what she creates.

‘I can stand in Atlanta, Georgia and tell the story of that opal and the mine that it comes from and the man who mined it. It makes a piece of jewellery come alive when you can tell that story absolutely first-hand.’

Margot McKinney

The Atoll Collier

Margot’s artistic inspiration is, as always, the spectacular landscapes of Australia and with her most recent major opal piece – the Atoll Collier – she takes us to the pristine azure waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The starring elements of this work are thirteen unusually large pieces of rare boulder opal, which were mined in the 1960s near the town of Winton in outback Queensland. They remained in a safe for all these years, until Margot convinced the miner to let her work her magic with them.

Part of Atoll’s enigmatic allure is the fact that the opals emerged from an arid desert environment, and yet – in a paradox that only Mother Nature could conceive – the vibrant play-of-colour in each one suggests the shimmering coral seas of Australia’s north-east. The effect is completed with pistachio pearls that were formed in the warm tropical waters of Tahiti, along with tourmalines, zircons, and demantoids – a rare and highly valued form of garnet known for its exceptional brilliance.

Margot’s World

Margot’s distinct design style is characterised by an exuberance of expression and a bold, awe-inspiring aesthetic. Each piece celebrates life’s joys, from intense depths of colour to exciting locations, people, family, and togetherness – which the artist holds dear.

She designs pieces that make a statement, offering the wearer confidence in making both an entrance and leaving an unforgettable impression.

Margot’s flagship store is located in Brisbane, Australia, while her jewellery also adorns the prestigious establishments of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman in the United States.