Smallprint Jewellery

03/16/2013

When Lisa Steinkey saw jewelry that was etched with a child’s fingerprint, it made quite an impression on her.

Steinkey was living in Australia at the time she came across the product.

“My child was just five days old and I was at a children’s market,” she said. The company, Smallprint, specializes in the production of hand-crafted keepsakes that capture children’s fingerprints, doodles, and hand and footprints on pieces of fine silver jewelry.

Lisa Steinkey and her son Lachlan press Lachlan’s fingerprint into putty to be made into jewelry on Feb. 7.

Gord Waldner, The StarPhoenix

Their products include charm bracelets, pendants, key rings, cuff links, tags and Christmas decorations.

The jewelry intrigued Steinkey so much she decided to research it when she returned to Saskatoon.

“I just couldn’t stop thinking about it,” said Steinkey , who ended up buying the Saskatchewan franchise rights with husband Shawn Iversen.

The company was founded in 2004 by Maija Pykeet in Bristol, England.

Pykeet had made a piece of jewelry with her child’s fingerprint on it and was at a store in line with other mothers wanting to get a print of their child’s handprints.

It dawned on her others might want to have jewelry with their child’s finger or handprints on it.

“From the first day I started I was inundated with moms wanting it,” Pykeet said.

By 2006, they had begun franchising and now have 130 franchises in 20 countries. To make the jewelry, a fingerprint is pressed onto a precious metal clay. It is then fired in a kiln and a piece of fine silver is the result, Pykeet said.

“Every single piece is unique,” she said.

Franchisees market themselves in a number of ways – home-based parties, linking with local businesses and travelling to trade and maternity shows.

Steinkey , who was a wine rep for a number of years in Saskatoon before spending a couple of years in Australia, said she has already started booking shows in April and May.

“And I’m going to do a baby fair, Outplay and Outgrow (on April 21),” Steinkey said.

For more information, visit www.smallprint.com.