Jewellery 101 – Chapter One

What is this demi-fine of which you speak?!………a little bit more about me and Seraphiye

 

Up to about fifteen years ago, jewellery in the UK mostly fell into three brackets:

1.High Jewellery.  The stuff of dreams, fine diamonds and precious stones, platinum and 18ct gold, found in the fine jewellery boutiques of Bond Street and exclusive jewellers.

2.High Street Jewellers.  Big, multi-store jewellers where traditional styling, 9ct gold, promotional diamonds, and opaque sapphires blacker-than-night, ruled.

3.Fashion Jewellery.  Whether it be in the fast fashion stores of the high street, or the bolder styles found in department stores, base metals, brass, crystals, and plastic came together to offer seasonal style and colourful options to accessorize to your heart’s content.

 

At the time, I was living and working in New York, for a wonderful company that had just started a business retailing gorgeous gemstone jewellery and designer brands across the US.  I was introduced to the world of ‘designer fashion jewellery’, and the delights of 14k gold, gold vermeil (more on that later) and the myriad technicolour delights of semi-precious gemstones.

It was as if a whole new universe had been offered up to me, and I spent hours in the jewellery halls of Barney’s (RIP), Bergdorf’s and Henri Bendel, soaking up the glamorous gems.

Roll on 2005 and I moved back to the UK and London, to start a new jewellery brand.

There was a huge gap in the market for the sort of jewellery that I’d been working with during my years in New York, we just needed to come up with a way to get it out there because we knew that the stylish women of the UK would love it once they saw it.

So, it was during our musings at the coffee table that the term ‘demi-fine’ was born………a sort of cool-sounding mash up of ‘semi-precious’ and ‘fine jewellery’ that brilliantly described the gorgeous, fashion-forward styling and the materials I was using both in my own designs and in the jewellery I was selecting – sterling silver and 14k gold, and the colourful gemstones – lapis, opal, onyx, amethyst, pearl, moonstone, garnet, ruby, spinel, topaz…..the list is endless!

Fast-forward to 2020 and the demi-fine jewellery market had positively exploded, with some fantastic brands being born, and that ‘bridge’ between costume and fine jewellery firmly established.

I’d spent those interim years working for some of the biggest brands and retailers in the UK, travelling the world, meeting new makers, making new friends (like these brilliant kids to your left!), finding new stone sources, and discovering new techniques to design and make beautiful jewellery.

 

Constantly learning and improving both myself and the jewellery I was creating, but also realising that I needed something more.

 

And so, in 2021 I founded Seraphiye – bringing together the best of everything I have learnt and done over my career, and finally doing things on my own terms.

Inspired by the world around me, designing from scratch, choosing the very best suppliers, focusing on the detail and design in every piece of jewellery – right down to the colour of the gold we use for our vermeil (no orange gold here!), and working hard to ensure that everyone who works with me at Seraphiye, or buys and wears the jewellery we create, loves the brand as much as I do!

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