Philippa from Taylor Black Jewellery

Handmade in England

I wanted to be a jewellery designer maker from a very young age but it wasn’t until after a brief career in the advertising industry that my dream finally became a reality. The very essence of my ambitions lay in my desire to be able to make the jewellery with my very own hands and so I signed up for an intensive jewellery manufacturing course at what is now the British Academy of Jewellery (then Holts Academy in Hatton Garden). The course had at its very heart the desire to keep the traditional techniques alive and I learnt a very good foundation in handmade jewellery here. I then went on to predominantly teach myself from my spare bedroom. Learning to hand craft jewellery is a passage that never ends believe me and I often find myself doing something for the first time.

When the opportunity came up to leave London and my spare room behind for a Georgian shophouse in Tetbury, the Cotswolds, I couldn’t quite believe it. My jewellery bench now sits in the corner of the shop and here I design and make whilst the shop is open and sometimes when it is closed too. I find customers really like the experience and authenticity of seeing jewellery handcrafted in the shop.

I am a business of one so can guarantee working conditions, traceable sourcing of materials, a personal service, minimal environmental impact and the ability to offer bespoke handmade jewellery.

Sometimes I do use other experts / master craftsmen / women in the industry for gold plating, some stone setting and the like but even these providers are based either in the Cotswolds or London’s jewellery quarter Hatton Garden.

Jewellery is such a personal thing so in my opinion it makes it all the more meaningful for it to be made by hand. It allows me to personalise jewellery for example alter a stone size or metal colour. Even match pearls to a bride’s dress.

 

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