Childhood Memories: Designers Share Their Favourite Holiday Memories

The time has come for some of our favourite jewellers from all over the world to share their favourite Christmas stories from childhood. From the Italian Bia Tambelli to Hong Kong-born designer Sarah Ho, let’s journey through the Christmases past of a new group of modern jewellers. Continuing the tradition, this year the designers have chosen to let us in on their most cherished memory from their past holiday seasons. Let’s see what they had to say!

If you are looking for inspiration this holiday season, I highly recommend reading the stories below. The third edition of our Christmas stories series (Read chapters one and two here!), this piece is full of nostalgic memories of wonderful childhoods. They are guaranteed to bring you all the Christmas cheer you are looking for. 

Frédéric Mané

I never believed in Father Christmas. I always thought that it was my grandfather in disguise. My grandparents owned a toy shop in the South of France, so each Christmas I would help them prepare and deliver gifts to the families in our city, I felt like Santa’s little helper. Every holiday season of my childhood was its very own Christmas fairytale. Being the son of a toy merchant, I got all the toys I could ever have wanted – most children saw me as the luckiest kid in the world. Little did they know that my most coveted Christmas present was a white paper block, paintbrushes, and watercolours, which I would eventually use to create my own fairytale work. This is the present that awakened my creative spirit.

Bia Tambelli

All my childhood Christmas memories are delicious, filled with the nostalgic scent of home-cooked holiday dishes that my brother and I would watch our parents prepare, filled with great excitement knowing that on December 25th we would all be sitting down at the table to eat as a family. Believing in Santa Claus is another one of my favourite Christmas memories. That magic feeling that only children can experience is something truly special. I feel blessed that I get a glimpse of that magic again through the eyes of my children.