Brand born from love
Our great inspiration, role model and beloved grandmother Monika Tucek
Our story starts with Monika Tucek, our beloved
grandmother. In 1970, the Viennese jewellery designer and her husband, Fritz, our grandfather, embarked on a journey to South Africa to find their fortune. Little did they know that their adventure was to be the start of a family jewellery business now in the third generation. One year to the day after the couple’s landing in SA, our father, Fred, was born, becoming the second-generation jewellery designer in the family 20 years later.
This is our story…
In 1975, Monika and Fritz opened their first High – end jewellery store – Vienna Jewellers – in the prestigious Opera Plaza in Pretoria CBD. They enjoyed immediate success because of Monika’s distinctive style and creative designs and Fritz’s business acumen. Five years later, the second, very successful, store opened in the Burlington Arcade. Two more stores followed in 1987 and 1990 – when Fred joined the company as a goldsmith and designer. He went on to win three ‘’Jewellery Designer of the Year’’ Awards in South Africa
Monika opens the second store in 1980
Our loving parents MJ and Fred
It was at one of these Award Dinners in 2003 that our parents met – It was love at first sight. At the time our mother, Mary-Jane Breytenbach – Tucek was working as the Head of Marketing for a Community Development NGO which was running several Jewellery Schools offering sponsored goldsmithing learnerships to disadvantaged youths. Fred immediately volunteered as a design consultant at the schools and a beautiful love story began – based not just on their love for one another but also their mutual love for jewellery.
In 2007 the Tucek family moved back to Vienna where they founded the first CAD & Rapid Prototyping Service Provider to the Austrian Jewellery Industry called Atelier ALEXA, led by Fred and Monika as Designers and Mary-Jane as Business and Marketing Manager. Our Aunt, Eva Tucek joined the family business in 2008 as Designer and Art Director.
In 2024 we, Alexa and Arcadia, the daughters of MJ & Fred continue the jewellery love affair with our eponymous Luxury Jewellery Brand ALEXA & ARCADIA. We draw from the expertise and passion of our parents and grandparents to continue the tradition of designing extraordinary pieces – we hope you love our jewellery as much as we do.