CARMEL - FOUNDER
Carmel opened the first PERIDOT retail shop in the village of Sedgefield on 4th August 2001. Quite a risky choice at the time with Sedgefield being such a quiet village than the more buzzy atmosphere we know today.
Carmel has always had a passion and renowned talent for interior design and has attended numerous courses both in her teens and late 30’s.
Carmel successfully enjoyed running PERIDOT for 14 years before sadly falling too ill to continue and decided to sell the business to Daria, the current proprietor of the retail shops, in 2001.
Carmel still assists with choosing stock and shows a very keen interest to this day.
A little known fact - PERIDOT is named after the birthstone of August, the month the first shop was opened and is pronounced with a silent 'T' - "Perry-dough".
DARIA - RETAIL
Daria, the current proprietor of PERIDOT retail shops, has extensive knowledge in retail, having previously worked in the jewellery department at Harrods, before becoming assistant manager at Rolex in Bond Street, London for a number of years.
Daria moved from London to the North East of England, to be with her partner Kursten, who is Carmel’s son and purchased PERIDOT Sedgefield in 2015.
While a considerably different working environment to her prior years, Daria loves the friendly atmosphere and people in the North East and opened a second PERIDOT retail shop in Norton with her partner during 2018.
Daria’s aim is to continue sourcing good quality unusual products and brands at an inexpensive price.
A little known fact - Daria is originally from Russia (and not France or Italy, as she is regularly asked) and moved to the UK on her own aged 18 and has remained here ever since.
KURSTEN - E-COMMERCE
Kursten is Carmel’s son and Daria’s partner and is the proprietor of PERIDOT Online Boutique.
Kursten has a passion for interior design and started his own property investment & rental business at the age of 18, which involved overseeing the development of a large number of properties for nearly 30 years.
Kursten designed the current PERIDOT website and now employs a small team of experts in the field of e-commerce.
Kursten’s aim is to try to continually improve the customer experience and add more product choice to the website.
