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Business & Tech

Sharing The Opulence With Mystic's Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company

Owner and Jewelry Designer Matthew Hopkins, From Australia to Mystic

Owner Matthew Hopkins has a penchant and an eye for all things rare and unusual. Hopkins, 38 opened his jewelry store in downtown Mystic 7 years ago.

With an extensive background in jewelry making and a family love of gems, he thought it was the ideal business in just the right spot.

“You have community minded locals here and it’s amazing how much they appreciate their local merchants,” Hopkins said. “If you’re good at what you do, you have a good product and the price is right, people are very accepting here.” 

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Filled with eye-candy, Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co., is a tribute to Hopkins interest in unique objects. Earth tone landscape oil paintings hang on the walls while tapestries and antique objects lace throughout the store. Earthen artifacts and fossils, including a Hadrosaurus egg, artfully nestled in beds of shiny black pebbles fill the lower tier of display cases. Some objects Hopkins sells and others he collects for his own enjoyment but all is for the customer’s viewing pleasure. He sells modern jewelry but seems to favors vintage pieces, which he feels showcases a craftsmanship not often seen today. 

Hopkins story began in his birthplace of Melbourne, Australia. His family, originally from the area moved down under for a teaching position. Later the Hopkins family left Melbourne and relocated to a small sheep farming and Aboriginal community. His family was actively involved in Aboriginal tribal land rights as a catchall: gas station, post office and grocery store.

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The Hopkins family moved back to Ashaway, Rhode Island where Hopkins attended both high school and college, receiving a degree in jewelry design and sculpture from Rhode Island College.

After gaining work experience, Hopkins started a business making fine jewelry prototypes and created prototypes for companies such as Disney, Coach, Anne Kline, Tiffany, Oscar de la Renta and Ralph Lauren. Unfortunately, as manufacturing shifted overseas, jewelry production jobs dried up in America. 

In the meantime, Hopkins’s entire extended family returned to Australia to mine gems. Hopkins began a wholesale business with his father and brother selling black opals, which he still continues today. Ultimately, he decided to open his jewelry store.

“It was easy for me to get into the custom jewelry business,” Hopkins explained. “On the side I had always wholesaled gemstones and had always worked with precious metals.”

Recalling the initial spark, which triggered his interest in gems he said, ”I remember my dad gave me a pear shaped opal, when I was 10 and I kept it for years in my safety deposit box.” Hopkins would pay visits to his special treasure and eventually used it to made a pendant for his wife.

Hopkins, married with a 3-year-old son, lives in Westerly, but because of work, spends many more of his days immersed in Mystic life. He appreciates the vibrancy and walk-ability of the town as well as the many good friends he’s made. His favorite local event is the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival.

As a past participant he said, “Some of the art is really good and it’s great to see the street lined with hand made good and piles of people pouring through the area.”    

Through events such as this combined with his store, Hopkins has developed a fine reputation amongst locals, which he says is a majority of his business. He sees a future in creating and selling his own line of jewelry.

In the meantime, he invites people to come and see for themselves, promising to capture his customer’s attention. 

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