This is a romantic “boy meets girl, moves to an island and starts their own enterprise” story. South African, Charlene Bosch met Italian, Gabriele Tixi aboard Queen Mary 2, where they both were working at the time. They feel in love, got married, decided to quit living at sea, and moved to Bonaire in February 2011.
Charlene always had a passion for design and learned the art of working with glass from her mom. She started a little dichroic glass business, selling hand-made jewelry at the cruise port’s market stand in Bonaire six months of the year. Her unique designs reflected the beautiful aqua colors of the ocean and the bold and bright tones of the Caribbean. Visitors to the Dutch Caribbean island enjoyed purchasing local jewelry that was inspired by the surroundings.
With growing demand for her products, Charlene and Gabriele decided to open a store, Elements Bonaire in downtown Kralendijk. Soon their families moved from Italy and South Africa to join the business. Now they have stores in Bonaire and St Maarten.
I visited the store in Bonaire which was decorated with color changing tree in the center of the room surrounded by a vast collection of glass bracelets, earrings, pendants and household gifts. Themes of designs included Africa collection, Ocean collection Sunset collection and many more. Each piece was beautifully done and no two pieces looked alike. Gabriele flaunted glass cufflinks from their men’s collection. Shapes include turtles, angel fish, squares, triangle, long rectangles, packed in a zebra strip box, keeping in line with Charlene’s African roots.
Dichroic glass consists of multiple layers of metals which are vaporized in a vacuum chamber and electro beamed onto the glass. The glass is then cut into various shapes, layered together and then fused at almost 1500˚F for around 9-12 hours. From every angle you can see the colors change. The glass gives off brilliance and shine against different shades of light.
All of Elements jewelry is made with stainless steel which is hypoallergenic and does not tarnish. They also make custom ordered products, such as monogrammed champagne glasses for wedding gifts and party favors.
The pieces range from $15-$55 and are also available online.
