Jessica Winchcombe’s taken life’s scenic route.
The multi-disciplinary contemporary artist, internationally recognised jeweller and owner of Country Lane’s Studio 42, moved to Queenstown almost 15 years ago at the behest of her husband, Tim Miller, who’s also an artist, but works for Queenstown’s council.
"He’s Irish, and he’d lived here for 10 years and just wanted to come back.
"I came for one year," she laughs.
Born in the Coromandel, Jessica moved to Whanganui when she was eight, though her formative years weren’t stock-standard.
Jessica’s "hippy artist" parents, talented potters and painters, embraced the idea of the world being a classroom.
"We didn’t go to school until I was, like, 12."
Instead, she spent her childhood travelling and doing charity work with her family, such as building houses and schools.
She "very briefly" attended Whanganui Girls College but left at the age of 15 to attend polytech in Whanganui, where she did a foundation course in visual arts.
She soon spread her wings again, travelling across Europe with bands, cooking for her keep.
At 19 she came back to New Zealand, becoming one of the first to get a diploma in commercial skydiving, working in that industry for a bit before getting her scuba instructor’s ticket.
"I’m really into deep-sea scuba diving, like shipwreck diving, so [I went to] Vanuatu, Australia, all over.
"I used to jump on boats and then I would do a bit of scuba diving, a bit of cooking, whatever was needed."
She later fell in love with making jewellery doing a night class in Brisbane, Australia, and continued learning at another night class in Brighton in the UK.
"I was probably getting old enough then to know that I wanted a career, rather than just be bopping around.
"In the arts, you can make art, but if you’re not formally trained, there’s not really a good path for you."
So, she applied and was accepted into the bachelor of applied arts in jewellery at Whitireia, and hasn’t looked back.
In 2011, she received the Fingers graduate award and exhibited at the Marzee Annual International Graduation Show, in the Netherlands, by which time she was already calling Queenstown home.
She was paired with a mentor and with some funding from Creative NZ, a series of shows, every three months, was lined up around the world.
In between times, she was working at Motogrill with her neighbour Cath Hanna, looked after Cath’s gently used clothing store, set up a studio in her house and learnt to snowboard.
"A lot of the friends were pretty good [at snowboarding] already, so they just used to chuck me off the top.
"They called me ‘Gnarly McShred’, because I always got to the bottom, somehow."
Jessica feels she was adopted by Queenstown’s community, including silversmith Digs Hargreaves, who practised jewellery here for 50 years.
"I used to go in [to his workshop] and he was giving me tips about how to use the local gold.
"It was really nice, especially as a girl, not coming from here, to be looked after by the old dudes and all the gold miners."
She opened Studio 42 almost four years ago, having previously run jewellery workshops from her house — she now offers a basic ringmaker course, a three-hour course for more complicated pieces, a full-day course, and hosts private group parties.
After Digs retired, in 2023, he gave Jessica all his jewellery equipment.
"I think he just liked the idea that his tools could go to students, and the next generation — since he gave me those tools, we’ve hung out more than we used to, it’s been really special."
She’s also found time to get back into art in recent years, including completing a six-month painting residence with Queenstown Contemporary.
Jessica’s since opened a second, private, studio in Country Lane for her artworks.
"I’ve actually kept it quite quiet — I’m just letting it develop; I just want to have a bit of fun with it."
Meantime, she’s continued to be invited to a host of international jewellery shows — she averages between four and eight a year; so far this year she’s showed in NZ, London, Munich and Japan and, in November, she’s off to New York.
"I am quite curious about the fact that I have a really wicked international career, and I just kind of wanted to make time for that to see what could happen.
"I’ve got a meeting in New York with Angelina Jolie’s atelier where I’ll go and maybe take some classes and then put my foot in the door for an art residence."
She’s also meeting a group of young designers who put their pieces into a "bronze room" which stylists borrow from for music videos and magazine shoots.
While many others with her skillset may prefer to be in major cities, or have studios on high streets, Jessica says she gets the best of both worlds here.
"A lot of people told me you could be a bit of a pioneer when you come here, and I think it would’ve been a lot harder to start something like this in Wellington, for example.
"I’ve really just listened to people and heard what they needed, but it’s also been a really big investment in the community, hence why I like Country Lane, because they’re all about community.
"And when you do that, you are part of a community.
"I can’t really see unplugging here and going somewhere else to start all over again."
