Three years ago, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the future looked uncertain for Stephen Webster, the jeweller who made his name using precious stones in rebellious style. “We nearly lost the business due to the Russian war. That was our biggest market. We’d spent 22 years building it,” he says, in his recognisably gravelly timbre, as he reclines at his desk on the second floor of his soon-to-open flagship shop at 12-13 Burlington Arcade. His long peppery hair is slicked back, and he smiles in a red bowling shirt with a clunky, silver thorn chain of his own design.
“My wife Anastasia and I were out there opening a fabulous new boutique, and then the invasion happened. That was the end of it. It was a really tough period. I don’t think anything could have affected us quite like that — it was 45 per cent of our business. We had to get through it, hang on, keep things afloat, and then figure out what’s next,” he says. “So, I’m walking past this spot at Burlington Arcade that was a James Bond pop-up shop. There were Aston Martin DB5s hanging from the roof, the carpet was all 007, Goldfinger-themed — the whole place was gold.” He went inside for a martini in a prop-built bar downstairs and thought: “This is really cool.”
