TIMELINE :: THE EVOLUTION OF DEPAZZI

1870’s Tullys & Duracks settle far outback QLD and begin to mine boulder opal on their land

1890’s Tully Wolaston travels to these areas overcoming incredible odds in the harsh outback as well as successfully marketing opal in London.

1900 Drought ceases almost all opal mining and it was not to get under way again until 1960’s

1960’s Vince Evert starts mining operation in Winton region.While Cameron Tully continues mining old mining claims on small scale, with Bruce joining him in 1976 at “Depazzi “ opal mine, named after Cameron’s fathers nickname, a well known Queensland sporting identity

1980 James Evert joins his Father as they step-up mining operation with revolutionairy mining techniques. 

1986 James and Vince open first opal retail store in Townsville

1990 Bruce Tully steps-up mining in Yaraka region marketing opal to USA

1990-94 Vince and James market extensively to USA and Japan

1990 James and Vince move the retail operation to Cairns

1998 Bruce sells family grazing property (4^th generation on this land) to go mining full-time

1999 Bruce Meets Marilynne Paspaley from Paspaley Pearls when she stayed with Bruce & Michelle at Naretha (Still running mining operation from there although the property is sold) as a guest speaker at Quilpie opal expo. Bruce expresses his dream for the marketing opal and relates the industries problems to her.

2000 Began working with award winning jewellery designers on various design concepts

2002 February :: attended Bangkok jewellery trade fair

2002 December :: Depazzi’s launch at Brisbane Hilton, showcasing contemporary designs with some of the best opal Australia has produced – by this stage Bruce was doing much of the designing, then all of it from this point on.

2003 February :: Journalist, Selena Wallace, introduced Bruce to Richard de Chazal, to do a photo shoot. This was Bruce’s first introduction to the fashion world, and the experience gave him the knowledge to take his vision to the next level.

2003 Bruce was encouraged by his wife Michelle and friends to apply for Churchill Fellowship.

2003 August :: Received fellowship and it was presented by Governor of Queensland, Quentin Bryce.

2003 to early 2004 :: Concentrated on custom designing of jewellery collection and exhibitions in Brisbane

2004 February :: Bruce left Australia for his Churchill Fellowship to study design and manufacture of jewellery and Italian language.

This Involved travelling to:

The USA attending gemstone trade fairs; meeting with international patent lawyers and meeting with people at top of diamond industry in New York & Chicago as well as studying major brands and their histories and marketing techniques

Munich, Germany - attending jewellery trade fairs especially famous for their new designer section.

Milan, Italy – attending Milan fashion week shows.

Florence – studying jewellery design, geometrics, rendering, jewellery manufacture, creative arts and Italian language (also studied history of major design labels)

Began discussions with Isabel Herrera (one of his tutors who was already an established name in Mexico) the intricacies of starting a label. Consequently they planned to do a show together in Florence.

Was introduced to Elisabetta Gucci they became good friends – she commissioned Bruce to make a piece of jewellery for her.

Basel, Switzerland – attended jewellery trade fair, exhibited several pieces and was introduced to many key people by Isabel Herrera.

Sardinia – looked at possibilities of doing a show there.

2004 May :: Exhibited in Hong Kong

2004 June :: Exhibited in Cairo

2004 July :: (Florence) Elisabetta Gucci presented Bruce and Isabel Herrera for an exhibition of their jewellery. It was covered by several television stations and the international press.

Depazzi received much more media coverage upon Bruce's return to Australia. Bruce was approached as a subject for ABC’s Australian Story. The feature proceeded, and involved six months filming including crews being sent to Italy and the outback for filming.

2004 October :: James Evert moved from the family business which by that stage had six stores in the Cairns/Port Douglas region

2005 April :: Australian Story's feature episode on Depazzi “Romancing the Stone” aired on the ABC.

2005 April :: James and Bruce begin talks to merge companies (had been friends for 15 years)

Travelled three times together to Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Taiwan and China to look at materials, manufacturing, branding and marketing techniques.

2006 May :: Bruce sat on the distinguished judging panel of Australian Gemstone Jewellery design awards at Sydney Marriot. He was also guest speaker at Australian Gemmological Association Ian's federal conference.

2006 June 14 :: Launching Depazzi's debut store in the Brisbane CBD.

2006 June :: Bruce Tully will appear in a one-hour documentary showcasing five artists inspired by the outback including: Pro Hart and Troy Cassar-Daley... Saturday, 17th June :: Network 10 at 4pm. The one hour show is called Outback Inspirations.

2006 :: Preparing to launch first two collections designed by Elisabetta Gucci for Depazzi.

And so the story continues to evolve, with Tully designing and inspiring through new world multi-channel marketing, this arm flexing in tandem with Evert's retail knowledge and operations branch; together they drive Australia's most potent luxury goods brand onto the international circuit.

But it would not have been such a journey without the tremendous support from their respective families. Both Tully and Evert have burgeoning families and are the first to acknowledge that their strength and support has been instrumental to their success.

With precious gemstones, extraordinary designs, branding, and a tremendous sense of national pride...there is no question that Bruce Tully, James Evert and the team are changing the way the world looks at opals - and Australia.

The star of the store is the Depazzi jewellery collection - Luxurious top-end pieces for discerning jewellery lovers who enjoy making a bold statement and are comfortable paying a little more for the privilege.

Tully’s partner James Evert, formerly of Evert Opals, states that “All the opal in the collection has been mined from one of our family mines.” Between them they have 14 mines in the harsh Queensland outback. 

Indeed, the striking gemstone is ‘ripe for an image makeover’, and both Tully and Evert wholeheartedly believe that opal is the next must-have gem to be sported by those in the know. The pair also credits the fiery stone as their inspiration for the Depazzi brand and its burgeoning success adding “Australians have simply never seen opal like this before!”

In a suiting tribute to the label, Depazzi was favoured by Cathy Freeman for the 2006 Logie Awards. Perhaps she selected Depazzi because indigenous Australians believe that opal empowers women? At any rate, Enthusiasts predict that it is only a matter of time before the Depazzi Collection will be draped around the necks of Hollywood's "most stylish", out-shining many Beverly Hills perennial favourites. With prices starting at under $200 for exciting ready-to-wear creations brimming with couture style; these pieces represent tremendous value.

The executive range of matching accessories is slick and very fashionable; the full range and story is set to unfold as the year marches on.

James Evert is a man synonymous with opal mining and retailing. Evert and his late father Vince held a longstanding partnership that revolutionised mining, cutting and developed the retail market for bolder opal. Together their vision helped considerably to raise awareness of opal in Australia and around the world.

Evert became president of the Queensland Boulder Opal Association (QBOA) in 1992 when he was engaged in an all-encompassing operation (mining, cutting and retail). He has since become the industry voice when dealing with issues related to opal mining, native title and Queensland’s famed boulder opal. His family enterprise, Evert Opals, had grown to six retail stores in Cairns and Port Douglas. From this remarkable background he strides into a partnership with Tully; now the duo give Depazzi 100 percent of their focus.

These entrepreneurial fellows met through industry connections decades ago, but their partnership flourished when they kept crossing paths in faraway places, like Italy, Germany and China. Both were promoting Australian opal at conferences and exhibitions or scouring manufacturing plants for resources and ideas in their quest to take the Australian opal industry to unprecedented levels.

Realising that here were two people with different fields of expertise sharing the same vision for their industry, Evert and Tully joined forces. Together they represent a formidable pair, sharing immense knowledge of every facet of their industry from prospecting and mining, to cutting, international design, manufacture, retail and marketing.

But most notably, they are two great Aussie guys who fondly recall the days when one could seal a million dollar deal with a handshake on the rugged terrain of the Australian outback.  Both men have bustling families, a tribe of young ones growing steadily into potential successors; one can easily imagine Depazzi growing into an empire.

Bruce Tully brings equal punch to the table, having won a Churchill Fellowship in 2003 to study jewellery design, manufacture and the Italian language in Florence. He was also trained on the history of major design brands and attended fashion and jewellery fairs in Munich, Milan, Basel Cairo, Bangkok, Hong Kong, New York and Chicago.

As tribute to his expertise in international jewellery design, Tully has sat on distinguished judging panels for Australian jewellery design awards and been a guest speaker at many opal and jewellery industry events. Tully revels in such tasks and equally enjoys the challenge of presenting his ideas on talkback radio and TV. The story of Depazzi has been courted by international press in Italy, Spain, Mexico, Florence, and consequently picked up by local media including: Qantas, Lexus and Follow Magazines; Brisbane News, The Australian and Courier Mail newspapers; and local TV segments such as Cannel 9’s Brisbane Extra, and Award winning ABC’s “Australian Story”.

Depazzi will be requesting your attendance at the launch on Wednesday the 21st June at 11am. Invites will be arriving shortly. All press invitees will be bejewelled on arrival to experience Depazzi first hand. Light refreshments and hors d’ oeuvres will be served while we seduce you with a spectacular visual presentation.