Climbing Gems began in 2020 after I noticed that my then seven-year-old son was terrified of heights. I signed us up at Core Climbing in Carrara, a bouldering gym in the heart of the Gold Coast. He refused to climb without me — he was scared — so up I went, long sparkly nails and all.

Turns out, I was scared too.

But I loved it.

That was the beginning. The sparkly nails I’d worn for years were cut short and left plain. Slowly, we started buying climbing gear. And one thing stood out immediately: chalkbags. They were either dull, muted colours or fluffy monster faces. The one thing I could accessorise had no personality at all.

So I made my own.

I created a sequinned chalkbag and wore it for the first time at an anchor-building and basic vertical rescue workshop in the Glass House Mountains, organised by a group called Mums Gone Climbing. There were eight women at that workshop — and every single person, including the instructor, stopped mid-sentence to say:

“Oh my god, where did you get that sparkly chalkbag? I want one.”

That day, at the crag, Climbing Gems was born. Over lunch we even debated names — Chicks and Chalk, Girlbag, Cragbling. None quite stuck.

Later, during a brainstorming session with a friend who speaks German, we landed on Climbing Gems — a nod to the sparkle (gems), and also to Gäms, the German word for chamois, the mountain animal featured in the logo.

Orders slowly started coming in. I pivoted to using upcycled materials early on, and in 2023 — with the help of a climber from the community — the original Climbing Gems magnetic closure was developed. Since then, Climbing Gems has grown one gym, one crag, one competition, and one trade show at a time.

Oh — by the way — I’m Angela, the founder and the hands behind Climbing Gems. I still sew many of the bags myself using upcycled materials, with help from my mum Monique and my two kids (they definitely help… or at least help create a mess). There are currently four sewing machines in our living room, and the dining table doubles as a cutting table, admin desk, gluing station, and sewing bench. My mum’s house in Switzerland doesn’t look much different.

That’s the thing — Climbing Gems doesn’t just span three generations, it also spans two continents across the world.

While we are slowly transitioning some items away from being made entirely in-house, everything remains handmade, and upcycling remains at the core of what we do.

Climbing Gems is built on creativity, functionality, and community — chalkbags with personality, designed to be used, loved, and climbed with.