From the luxury brands on Bond Street to the artisans in Hatton Garden, London is positively bursting with options when it comes to brilliant bling.
And anyone on a mission to source the city’s coolest jewels should look to the emerging cadre of new female jewellery designers shaking things up and burnishing them down, offering fashion-forward bling, often at a fraction of the price of the global players.
Read on for the eight names to know...
Jessica McCormack
Jessica McCormack specialises in ultra-wearable diamond bling that treads the line between trend and classic and pairs as well with a cocktail dress as a white shirt. From twinkling star and heart rings to her much-loved Gypset collection, which counts Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Meghan Markle, Liv Tyler, Billie Piper, Charlize Theron and Lily James among its fans, McCormack’s a cult name to know. Visit her impressive six-storey townhouse on Mayfair’s Carlos Place, where antiques and contemporary art sit alongside an on-site workshop, and pick something off the peg or work with McCormack on a bespoke design.
From £490; jessicamccormack.com
Solange Azagury-Partridge
If big bold bling and lots of colour’s your bag, Solange Azagury-Partridge is the name to know. The British designer and interiors expert was once creative director at French jewellery house Boucheron and was most recently seen on the BBC’s All That Glitters with Shaun Leane. Her colourful ‘Hotlips’ rings feature in the permanent collections of the V&A in London as well as Les Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre museum in Paris, as well as on the fingers of Bella Hadid, Dua Lipa, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Adwoa Aboah and Rebel Wilson. Pop into her Chilworth Street store where the interiors are as fabulously kooky and colourful as her designs.
From £1,500; solange.co.uk
Roxanne First
Ethically sourced and crafted in solid gold, Roxanne First’s pieces combine diamonds, sapphires and semi-precious stones into minimal, everyday pieces. Inspired by her Italian family’s penchant for collecting and layering unique pieces of bling, South African-born Rocky first launched her label Roxanne First in 2018. She specialises in stackable and layerable designs made from solid gold, and as a member of the Responsible Jewellery Council only uses conflict-free, ethical diamonds chosen from handpicked suppliers that they visit personally.
From £85 to £7,500; roxannefirst.com
Anissa Kermiche
Born in Paris to an academic French-Algerian family, Anissa Kermiche was steered into a world of corporate engineering before changing her tack to find her calling in jewellery design, honing her craft in London’s Hatton Garden. In 2016, she launched her eponymous label with a tactile selection of jewellery, before expanding into her now-famous Love Handles vases. Her designs centre on the female form, with solid gold boobies and bums a mainstay.
From £105- £4,700; anissakermiche.com
Jessie Thomas
Baroque pearls, hammered gold and organic shapes feature heavily in goldsmith and jewellery designer Jessie Thomas’s pieces, all of which transcend trends and ooze quality. Not surprising given Thomas handmakes all of her designs in the London workshop that she shares with her father – the celebrated master goldsmith David Thomas, who trained under Georg Jensen and the Swedish Crown Jewellers, and has pieces on show in the permanent collection of the V&A – using 100 per cent recycled gold and responsibly sourced precious gemstones and diamonds.
From £625; jessiethomasjewellery.com
By Alona
‘Re-envisaging the lost treasures of the Mediterranean’ is how Alona Shelemy characterises her London-based jewellery label By Alona, launched in 2011 after she graduated from the Gemological Institute of America in New York. Inspired by her rich Middle Eastern and European heritage and using the insights and knowledge gleaned from her fine jeweller father, Shelemy creates vintage-inflected gold plated pieces, the majority of which are produced in London.
From £40 to £244; byalona.com
Tilly Sveaas
If pared-back, timeless links, chains and pendants are your thing, Tilly Sveaas could well be the jeweller for you. Having trained in fine art and history of art, it wasn’t until a trip to Bali introduced Sveaas to the world of jewellery production that she found her calling – she met a local silversmith and began designing in solid sterling silver. Fast forward to the present day and Sveaas produces in sterling silver and gold plate, and is a Fairmined licensed brand with sustainability at the core of her production. Her signature T-Bar necklace has gained her a cult following around the world, worn by everyone from Claudia Winkleman to Cara Delevingne and Naomi Watts.
From £70- £1,200; tillysveaas.co.uk
Cece Fein Hughes
Art Historian turned jeweller Cece Fein Hughes worked at Christie’s and Sotheby’s before switching to train as a goldsmith at the British Academy of Jewellery in 2018. It was there that she fell in love with the ancient art of enamelling; a technique that her work rediscovers for all its endless possibilities via mini canvas-like pieces inspired by everything from fairy tales to animal totems, nautical imagery and old-school tattoos.
Each ring or pendant starts its journey in Cece’s London workshop, made by hand and forged from beautifully deep and rich recycled 18ct yellow gold. It is then passed on to one of London’s most renowned enamellers where every design is hand-engraved and then hand-painted using fire and crushed glass to recreate each design perfectly. The piece is finally embellished with pearls and star set diamonds to complete the miniature scene. This meticulous and precious process means every ring is individual to the wearer; a mystical heirloom to last generations.
From £1,950; cecejewellery.com
