A letter from Dianne about the Harriet and Delphine bracelets
For thirty years I was not allowed anything on my wrists at work. These are the first two bracelets I have ever written a letter about.
Six things two little bracelets get right that every bracelet I ever put away in a drawer got wrong, written down by a customer, not a shop.
Dianne Prescott · Customer · Epping, Sydney · 5 min read
I am 64, and I spent thirty years behind the front desk of a GP practice in Epping. Our practice manager, Sandra, had one rule about jewellery at the front desk: nothing that jangles. So I wore a plain watch and nothing else, and I have been retired for two years and was still obeying her. This spring, at a Christmas pudding morning in a little hall on the Gippsland Lakes, I watched a woman tie up forty puddings with a bracelet on each wrist, and a month later here I am, writing a letter about bracelets.
Hers were the Harriet, a polished silver heart on a slim cuff with tan cords, and the Delphine, a long silver fish on a dark brown cord. I now own both. They are from Thompson Sydney, a small Australian boutique that has been quietly making lovely things for women our age for a few years now. I ordered them the week I got home, fully expecting to send them back. I did not, and I wrote to the boutique to tell them why, and they asked if they could put my letter up for other women to read. So here it is, the six things these get right.
Bracelets, if you have looked lately, come in two piles. The first pile is the chunky kind that clatters on every table, catches on every jumper and needs a second pair of hands to do up. The second pile is the dainty chain kind, so fine you cannot see it and so fiddly you give up and leave it in the drawer.
A bracelet you can actually wear, or a bracelet somebody notices. I stopped accepting that a woman has to choose, and these two are the proof I was right to.
The pudding morning at the hall in Metung. A heart on one wrist, a fish on the other, and forty puddings tied.
They sit quietly on your wrist
This is the thing I noticed first. Graham and I had a late-spring week at Metung, and he fished off the jetty every morning while Dulcie, the lady in the cabin next door, roped me into her CWA Christmas pudding cook-up because they were a pair of hands short. Dulcie had taken her rings off and left them in a saucer by the urn, but she kept her bracelets on all morning. They never clanked on the big enamel bowl and they never caught on the string, not once in forty puddings. The boutique describes them as smooth, lightweight and comfortable enough to wear from morning coffee to evening plans, and that is exactly what I saw.
The Harriet at the kitchen table. I forget I have it on until somebody mentions it.
“So light I forget it is there. I wear it gardening, shopping and out to lunch.”
Maureen K., Lakes EntranceThey slip on and fasten in seconds, with no fiddly clasp
My fingers are not what they were, and a little lobster clasp behind my own wrist is a job for Graham, who is no better at it. The Harriet fastens with a loop of tan cord that goes over the heart at the end of the cuff, and that is all there is to it. The Delphine has a sliding knot in its dark brown cord, so you slip it over your hand and draw it in. The boutique says they slip on and fasten in seconds, and I timed myself the first morning out of pure suspicion. They were right.
The Delphine on the bedside table. The sliding knot at the top is the whole fastening.
“I have arthritis in my hands and I can put this on by myself. That alone was worth it.”
Gwen T., PaynesvilleEach one has a little character
The Harriet has one smooth, polished silver heart, one round antiqued silver bead covered in tiny cut-out daisies, and a short tail of tan cord finished with two little silver balls. The Delphine is one long silver fish made in linked sections, with engraved scales, a fin and a spiral for an eye, and a row of small silver beads either side of it. Neither one is loud. They are the kind of thing that makes a stranger say, what a lovely bracelet, and then ask where it is from.
The Delphine on the jetty at Metung, waiting for Graham to catch something.
“The little fish gets noticed everywhere I go. Three people asked about it at the bowls club.”
Pat W., BairnsdaleThey look right alone, or together
The listing says you can wear one on its own as a statement piece or layer it with your favourite bracelets and a watch. Dulcie wears a heart on one wrist and a fish on the other, and most days now so do I. On a quieter day it is just the heart beside my watch. The silver tone of the two sits nicely together, which is not something I would have trusted myself to judge a year ago.
The afternoon they arrived. Graham asked whether I had joined a club.
“I wear two of them together with my watch. They look like they were always meant to go together.”
Lorraine D., Lake Tyers BeachThey go with everything in the wardrobe
The boutique says they suit jeans and jumpers, summer dresses and weekend outfits alike, and so far that has held up with everything I own. The heart has been out with my navy linen shirt, my good floral for a birthday lunch and the old cardigan I wear to walk Banjo. I have not once had to think about whether it goes, which for a woman who spent thirty years with bare wrists is a small miracle.
“It goes with my jeans and with my dress for church. I have not taken it off since it came.”
Barbara H., Swan ReachThey make a lovely present, and Christmas is coming
The listing calls them a thoughtful gift for birthdays, Mother’s Day or simply to say thank you, and with Christmas coming that settled a few problems for me. There are twenty-eight designs in the collection, from silver hearts and daisies to little birds, elephants and stone chips in turquoise, moss green and rust, and I spent a whole evening on the sofa choosing while Graham watched the cricket. A third Harriet is wrapped and put away in my wardrobe for my daughter, and Dulcie, who owns four, says she has bought her sister one every Christmas since she found them.
My daughter’s, wrapped early for once. The Christmas bush is from Jenny’s garden over the road.
“I bought one for each of my daughters for Christmas and one for me. Everybody was thrilled.”
Jan M., NicholsonThe Harriet and the Delphine, against the bracelets in your drawer
You can buy a bracelet almost anywhere. I know, because I have been given most of them, and put every one away in a drawer. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Clatter on the table and catch on your jumper
A tiny clasp you cannot do up on your own
So fine nobody sees it, or so chunky everybody hears it
Only goes with one outfit
Nobody has ever asked where you got it
Smooth and light, and they sit quietly
A loop over the heart, or a sliding knot
A heart or a fish with a little character
Jeans, jumpers or a summer dress
Asked about at a pudding morning in Metung
About the price
I will be straightforward about the price, because it was the thing that made me suspicious. The Harriet and the Delphine are both $39.95, and they were $80.00.
The boutique says the spring sale price is about making room for the summer stock, selling directly, with no middleman taking a cut, and that at this price they are barely making anything on them. That is their arithmetic, not mine. What I can tell you is that I have paid more than that for a bracelet I wore twice, and I bought three of these.
If your wrists have been bare for years because of a rule that no longer applies, these are the two bracelets I would hand you instead.
Dianne
The Harriet & Delphine Charm Bracelets
- ✓Harriet: polished silver-tone heart on a slim cuff with three tan cords
- ✓Delphine: linked silver-tone fish with silver beads on a brown cord
- ✓Slips on and fastens in seconds, no fiddly clasp
- ✓Smooth, lightweight and easy to wear every day
- ✓A lovely gift, with twenty-eight designs to choose from
- ✓Free delivery across Australia
Spring sale on now. The popular designs are already going.