Thirty-five years ago, a young jeweller with a crushed leg and an unshakable determination entered the trade and never looked back.
For master jeweller Chris Ballintyne, everything began with family. He grew up helping at his father Don’s businesses, watching how he greeted customers, remembered their stories and made everyone feel welcome. Those lessons became the heart of Chris’s own approach.
At 16, a motorbike accident crushed Chris’s leg and left him in a wheelchair during his long recovery. Although he eventually regained his mobility, the injury ended the physical work he’d once imagined for himself. Doctors advised he’d need a job he could do sitting down, which opened the unexpected door to jewellery.
He began an apprenticeship in Moorabbin, completed his training in Melbourne and quickly fell in love with the precision and creativity of the craft.
In 1991, just as he was preparing for a job in London, Don suggested a different path. A jeweller in the Peninsula Centre had retired, the space was perfect and the timing felt meant to be. Ballintynes Jewellery was born, with Chris and Don working side by side for 10 wonderful years.
Since then, Chris has become one of the region’s most trusted jewellers, crafting more than 3000 engagement rings and specialising in bespoke pieces, heirloom restorations and sentimental redesigns. Today he works by private appointment and also offers intimate silversmithing classes that bring people together through creativity. To book an appointment or class, phone 1300 MY JEWELLER (1300 695 393).
