La Maison d’Or is not just another jewellery store. It is a place where customers get special attention and family tradition forms the foundation of the business. That family tradition is currently celebrating two milestone anniversaries. It is La Maison d’Or’s 45th anniversary and the 75th anniversary of the Harden family being in the jewellery business. La Maison d’Or also offers custom, specialty products of high quality crafted with expert precision.

The origins of La Maison d’Or began in 1949 when Bill Harden Sr. and his wife Julie opened Harden Jewellers in downtown Hawkesbury. Their three sons, Bill, Brent, and Reg all grew up in the family business. The Harden’s were mentored in business by Kay Assaly, who owned fine women’s clothing store K&W Assaly in Hawkesbury with her brother Wilf. Kay Assaly treated the three Harden sons as her own and is fondly remembered as Aunt Kay.

Bill Jr. and Brent, a certified gemologist, became business partners in 1975, and Reg joined the team in 1981. Under Bill’s guidance, the number of stores expanded to six, with the original Harden Jewellers location in downtown Hawkesbury, and the first La Maison d’Or location at the Hawkesbury Mall. In 1976, a La Maison d’Or store opened in Lachute, and the Place d’Orleans location opened in 1979. Harden’s also opened stores in Kanata in 1979, and in Orleans in 1985.

“We still have a lot of customers from the Hawkesbury and Vankleek Hill areas,” Brent said.

Brent and his wife Rosemary have raised two daughters, Jessica and Alex. In 1989, La Maison d’Or relocated within Place d’Orleans and remains there today. The store was extensively renovated according to a design by Jessica in 2015. It includes more seating for customers to comfortably and carefully discuss their fine jewellery needs. The store also includes a small café, the Astoria Café, where customers are offered refreshments. The Astoria Café name is a homage to the Astoria Grill, Bill Sr. and Julie’s first business in Hawkesbury back in 1946. Amenities like the café, comfortable seating, and dedicated, personal service are what has set La Maison d’Or and Harden Jewellers apart from the beginning.

“We were a specialty store then, we’re a specialty store now,” Brent said.

Canadian Maple Leaf Diamonds are a cornerstone of the jewellery sold at La Maison d’Or. Brent Harden is one of only 25 jewellers worldwide to have been welcomed inside the Ekati diamond mine and sorting facility in Yellowknife. While at the sorting facility in Yellowknife, he happened to pick up and examine a beautiful rough, yellow diamond. Months later while at a jewellery show, he saw a gorgeous ring which happened to be the same diamond. He purchased it for the store.

Giving back to the community and those in need has been a tradition at La Maison d’Or for decades. One of those rings made with a Maple Leaf Diamond was sold for $2,800 and the proceeds went to Opportunity Knox, the community effort in Vankleek Hill to sponsor Syrian refugees for resettlement in Canada. Brent is hoping a second Maple Leaf Diamond Ring being sold for La Maison d’Or’s anniversary will be purchased in the Hawkesbury-Vankleek Hill area to also support Opportunity Knox.

The rings for Opportunity Knox are part of La Maison d’Or’s anniversary plan to donate $75,000 worth of Canadian diamond rings to local charities with a fundraising goal of $200,000.

Over the years, La Maison d’Or has also raised more than $1 million for charities including CHEO, JumpStart, and the Canadian Cancer Society.

Employees at La Maison d’Or provide customers with a personal level of service appropriate for the specialty products offered. Team Manager Rita Elias has been with the business for nearly 20 years and Jessica Harden is part of La Maison d’Or’s promising future.

“Our goal is to hit a hundred years for this family business,” Brent said.

La Maison d’Or photos by James Morgan