To place an order visit www.rubiz.co.uk
Way back in 1992 having left the hustle and bustle of the city of Stoke, I found myself running a campsite in rural North Yorkshire, with a lot of spare time on my hands..... I had done "drag" a few times, but suppliers were difficult to find, these were days before the internet, if you knew a supplier, you wouldn't pass on their details........Thank Goodness for GOOGLE.......... It was during these months with time on my hands I decided I wanted to make myself some jewellery, something different from "Kuldana", and something far cheaper than any of the department stores, their was a niche market that wasn't catered for..........
Over a period of a year me and my business partner found suppliers, of stones, settings, solder, clay, everything needed to start, but.........there is no instruction manual an how to "design, create and manufacture" these pieces of jewellery, it was a very expensive learning curve........ During this time I was mixing with the crème de la crème of the Manchester scene, once word got out that "Jeweler John" was making fabulous drag jewellery, phone calls were coming in from all directions, my first major customer was Foo Foo Lammarr, of Foo Foo's Palace, Frank was one of the most respected acts in the north west, Frank was very generous and invited me and my friends to the palace on many occasions, it was always a pleasure. We took every opportunity to show our goods, attending the gay lifestyle exhibition at earls court, where we first met two of our most colourful characters Betty Bus and Melanie Moist, see gallery, they were literally fighting over my ring....... June that year we did London Pride which was held at Victoria Park, did very well all day, just before we packed up a lovely man called Peter Halston wanted every pair of earrings on display, but in a different colour, it just o happened that we had them, having spent over an hour carefully making his choices, he then asked for an invoice, to be made out to "Eastenders Costume", I never thought anything about it, only when we did Manchester Mardi Gras in the August, that my friends mother called to see if we had sold "Pat Butcher" some earrings, she described them as blue and clear hoops, I was sure we had, couldn't wait till I got back home to see the next edition of Eastenders and there they were...... Proud as punch, this inspired me to write to Pam St Clement, to say how excited I was, and I got a lovely letter back and a call from Peter who had lost my number, this led to my creating over 100 designs for Pat, Peggy and Tiffany........
In 1995 it was time to move on from running a campsite to buying a nightclub........We all have crazy ideas, I know......... So "The Club and Ruby's Diamond Mine" was born, through the club we moved into another area, When Toyah Willcox performed in August 1998, she happened to come into John's office where the jewels were just piled high, she was rooting through picked a load, little did she know that She was John's childhood icon, he gladly gave her choices, the next night on "The sex Show" Toyah was proudly wearing her new huge ring, from this Julian Clary's costume designer contacted Toyah, to see where she got it from....... It snowballed.........
Rubiz has always been a "hobby" and I nearly sold it a few years ago, one of my good customers said he knew somebody who was interested, and bought him over, I went through the whole process from beginning to end, listed suppliers everything, next thing he’d set up on his own, there is more than enough room for the 2 of us.......
Today Jan 2008, finds Rubiz, still here in stoke on Trent, still run under the careful eye of myself, and it is lovely to hear stories of people contacting us 10 or more years later with lovely stories, we would love to feature your pictures or comments here on myspace, and look forward to another decade of sparkling together.
John Wain
(aka Ruby)
