Have you ever wanted to walk a working week in someone else's shoes? Welcome to our series that gives you a no-holds-barred look at the Monday-Friday diary of successful women...

Claire Aristides is co-founder of Futurae Diamonds and creative director of luxury fine jewellery brand Aristides Fine Jewels.

"I have a keen entrepreneurial spirit, creating my first business, luxury fine jewellery brand Aristides, ten years ago. After suffering from burnout, I trained as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and developed Mindology.App - a mindset app to help calm and empower your mindset. I combine twenty years of business experience with the powerful techniques of psychology and hypnotherapy."

Monday

After I drop the kids off to school, I exercise – I love a powerwalk through my local area which has some beautiful bushwalks.  I aim for a solid 1-hour walk– I find movement and exercise helps me get clarity on my week ahead.  I often 'voice to text' record my to do lists, my creative ideas, and work through things in my mind on these walks.

Once I am showered and changed, the rest of Monday is always planning for the week ahead.    We plan the pieces that will be ready for the week as well as what we are working on. There is a lot of co-ordination with jewellery design and the actual production.  For example, taking a sketch or design idea from just an idea through to a technical drawing in CAD – which are detailed drawings of new designs. There’s also ensuring with production that we have all the materials we need – the size of diamonds or gemstones we need, the quantity required. We need to be organised and plan. There is an interesting balance between the creative side and the logistical side to make sure it all happens. It’s a very important part of any creative business, getting that balance between the creativity and the admin of it all.

Tuesday

After my powerwalk I do what I call 'creative admin' – so that’s signing off any new CAD designs, check with workshop that we are on schedule, and where we are at with making.  I also will often dive into any new designs, moodboarding new ideas that come to me. I love telling the stories of the jewellery we create. It’s part of our brand fabric to share peoples’ stories and their moments of expressing love, or their own achievements and moments of celebration. 

If we are planning our monthly shoot, I pull together reference images on Pinterest and send through to our photographer who’s amazing at bringing it all together.  Visual storytelling is the best way to share the personality of our designs, and planning is important to bring this to life. And it can take some time. This year especially we are embracing the creative side of the stories, and how we can make our audience part of the fun and special moments we are a part of through the jewellery we create.

In 2021 Futurae Diamonds joined the Aristides Family – Futurae Diamonds works exclusively with Lab-Grown Diamonds, creating engagement rings and classic fine jewellery with them.  Lab Grown Diamonds are a low impact, environmentally friendly stone. They are exactly same composition as an earth diamond, but with a different origin. A great analogy is a baby can be conceived naturally or via IVF – both are babies, and the same with diamonds - one made naturally, one made in a lab.  

An important focus for us was creating a sustainability program for the brands, and this has come together with a lovely partnership with Greenfleet Australia.

Our aim for both brands is making climate action part of our everyday values. Reducing our carbon footprint is paramount to both Aristides Fine Jewels and Futurae Diamonds, and we have started our commitment in two ways. Firstly by offsetting all our deliveries with Greenfleet, and secondly a pledge that for every purchase of jewellery, Greenfleet will plant a native tree – we are calling it Our Diamonds Grow Trees initiative.

Part of my Tuesday is checking in with what we are doing here, whether we're on track and aligned with what's important to us, and how we can continue to creatively express this. How can we improve our processes to be more sustainable?

I finish off my Tuesdays early, doing school pick up with the kids, and getting them ready for dinner and bath. My daughter loves jewellery, so she often wants to see all the new designs.

Wednesday

By Wednesday we are full into the week, and meeting with clients happens Wednesdays to Saturdays.  We offer appointments IRL in our North Sydney showroom and via zoom online.

Wednesdays after 11am I am in client appointments. Meeting with clients you really get to chat to people, build relationships, and understand what’s important to them.  With engagement rings it’s very important I understand what the client wants. Of course it’s an investment piece, a commitment and a statement of love - so it’s important to really understand what they want - to articulate that, and bring that to life for them.

We are part of many special moments, from proposals, to best friends telling each other how much they mean to one another, to children spoiling their mothers, to husbands and partners showing their love for their partners and wives. Jewellery is a symbol of this deep love and affection for others, and we take being part of that really seriously.

Thursday

Thursdays are very much checking we are on track with everything. We ensure we are on schedule with all our designs, although each day there will be some level of touching base with logistics, creative design, storytelling via our social media channels, customer service and admin.

As we are an online brand, Thursdays are often busy with making sure all jewellery orders are ready to be sent out. We send Australia wide, but also internationally via DHL insured, so the afternoons are spent ensuring jewellery is beautifully wrapped and ready for collection.

Friday

I love an easy Friday and I like to do something for me in the morning - either I get a facial done or I get my hair done (all covid permitting of course). It’s just nice to have some pamper time out. I also love this time away as it lets your mind relax. 

I aim for a lunch date with friends and then it’s back to appointments and preparing for Saturday’s clients. I end the working week with Friday date night with my husband. To see more of Claire's day to day follow @clairearistides | @aristidesfinejewels_ | @futuraediamonds