She was five years old, the year was 1994, and her talent on the shop floor was obvious.
But in her teenage years Kara’s heart wasn’t set on following Craig and Lyn Blizzard’s footsteps, and when she finished high school she flew the nest to pursue other interests.
At age 22 Kara returned to Shepparton having trained in beauty therapy, a career she liked but never loved.
She began to think about the future of her family’s thriving business, and what would happen when her mum and dad were ready to retire.
“I said to my brothers, ‘Someone has to learn’,” Kara says.
So she did, and her passion for jewellery design quickly grew.
“I’ve always been creative, and I mostly learned on the job - years of watching and listening,” Kara says.
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She has a good teacher in her father, Craig, who has worked in the jewellery industry his whole life.
At age 15 Craig began work at FC Johns Jewellers in Shepparton, a family business that lasted just over a century.
Craig learnt the delicate arts of engraving, watchmaking and clockmaking, before ultimately becoming general manager of five stores.
The first chapter of the Blizzards Fine Jewellers story began in 1994, when Craig and Lyn established a shopfront in Shepparton that would go on to attract customers from across Australia.
Craig studied jewellery design at RMIT and Lyn’s business skills and good taste came to the fore handling bookwork, accounts and ordering stock.
Today, Kara picks Craig’s brain to inherit his valuable expertise, learning the intricacies of an industry which requires jewellers to accumulate a formidable body of knowledge.
In a discreet studio attached to the shop, the father-daughter team run Diamond Storm Designs, where they dream up brilliant one-off pieces for Goulburn Valley and interstate customers alike.
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When a client walks in to the Shepparton shopfront to ask about repurposing the materials from a family heirloom to create a piece of jewellery better suited to her style, Craig and Kara guide her through the process with practiced ease, asking precise questions about her taste and budget, and explaining what comes next.
“Leave it with us,” Craig says.
“Give us time with it and we’ll come up with a few designs - it might be something you’ve never thought of.”
They regularly attend international trade shows to learn about new technology of trends, bringing the best of both home to their world-class design studio in Shepparton.
Craig was initially dubious about lab-grown diamonds when they entered the market - a diamond grown anywhere but the ground is sacrilege to some.
And yet, a lab-grown diamond is a diamond - identical chemically, physically and optically to mined diamonds.
While a ‘natural’ diamond is forged in the crushing pressure and molten heat of Earth’s mantle, diamonds can also be created with powerful pressure and heat in machines.
When he understood the science, and at Kara’s insistence, Craig agreed to stock lab-grown diamonds, which are far more affordable.
“You’ve got to evolve,” Craig says.
“I’ve sat with 15 jewellers and an instructor and no-one can tell the difference between natural and lab-grown.
“I don’t have a preference - I love natural diamonds but I see the environmental impact of extracting them.”
Kara's influence has progressed the evolution of the enduring family business, and Craig says he has to "let her run with it".
Kara says she, Lyn and Craig each bring their own talents to the table in a line of work with plenty of pressure and timeliness is crucial.
“We’re lucky, not everyone could do it,” Kara says.
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● Do you know a family business worthy of a story? Let us know by emailing rosa.ritchie@mmg.com.au.
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