Never failing to exceed expectations, Newcastle's local Amelia Hancock has continued smashing milestones with her passion for jewellery making, opening the first a.Atelier storefront in Cooks Hill. 

After over a year of searching, Amelia came across the Cooks Hill location, and realised she had found the perfect space to begin the next part of her journey. The self-taught craftswoman has shifted her branding from what many have known as made by a, to a.Atelier to coincide with the opening of the studio. 

Spending the last six months renovating the space into her dream storefront, walking into the space you can see the time and effort put into every detail. With a masculine steel and black metal theme, brass accents and a minimalistic approach the space compliments the brand's overall theme perfectly. Timeless, bold, classic. 

“We came in, and it was just perfect. The landlord was really open to us doing a full fit-out which has been great,” Amelia explains, “We’re kind of moving away from the ‘made by’ and moving towards just the ‘a’ and building on that atelier and adornment. Especially now that we’ve got a team of jewellers, we want to make a bit of distance between the made by a, as now, it’s made by a group of people.” 

The new store welcomes new faces too, an apprentice jeweller to assist in the production of the iconic pieces and soon, a piercer to take up residence in the back portion of the new location. Hoping to launch the piercing part of the storefront in February, Amelia talks about how that came to be.

“We’ve wanted to do piercing jewellery for a while specifically for the upper ear. When we were looking for a staff member to work in the shop, we met this girl Alana and she used to work at a piercing studio in London and she has all of this knowledge of piercing jewellery.” 

Focusing on creating unique and one-off pieces, the addition of a piercer also means personalised jewellery made for your piercing, specifically designed to complement your anatomy. 

“There’s nowhere you can get a custom-earring and get pierced with that here. Alana will map it all out for you and plan where your piercings are going to go. With the anatomy of everyone’s ear being different shapes and the different sizes; it’s really fun and exciting we can offer that.”

Moving forward from her time spent at the Maker Store and Studio, this new workspace will allow a focus on designing and creating new pieces clients will love while showing new apprentice Eli the ropes. A best seller, the Old Welded Chains are still a favourite to create for Amelia, and she hopes the piercing and customisable pieces will take off just as much as these permanent pieces did. 

“I love chaos,” Amelia jokes, “It’s been crazy. It’s been such a whirlwind and there have been so many lows. I never saw myself getting to this point.” 

From total beginner to her own store in just a few short years, Amelia's passion and perseverance is obvious to anyone around her. Having officially opened their doors Friday, the 3rd of December, the studio will be open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 4pm leading up to Christmas, the perfect opportunity to find something unique for your loved ones this holiday season.