Bespoke Jewellery: Unique Pieces From Start to Finish
At Maddermarket Antiques, we pride ourselves on being one of Norwich’s leading destinations for bespoke jewellery. We love collaborating with our customers to create pieces that reflect their individual style and story. We sat down with our goldsmith, Sarah Wright, for a conversation about our bespoke jewellery process.
What is bespoke jewellery?
Bespoke jewellery is jewellery that is made to order or created from a customer’s unique design brief. Rather than purchasing something off the shelf, customers can commission a piece that is entirely personal to them.
Do you need anything to create bespoke jewellery?
Not at all. There are several different starting points for bespoke jewellery.
Some customers come to us with a design idea they haven’t been able to find elsewhere. They may bring photographs or reference images, and we can work with them to design a completely new piece from scratch using newly sourced metals and gemstones.
Others already have their own gemstones, which we can incorporate into a fresh design.
A third option is to reuse existing gold jewellery. We can melt down a customer’s gold and transform it into something entirely new while preserving its sentimental value.
How long have you been helping people design bespoke jewellery?
I started my first job in jewellery when I was seventeen, and it’s all I’ve ever done. Let’s just say I’m not seventeen anymore, so it’s been many years.
What does the process involve?
The process begins with an in-depth consultation, where we discuss the customer’s ideas and design preferences.
From there, we create a CAD (computer-aided design) through one of our trusted suppliers in Hatton Garden. This allows customers to see a detailed visual representation of the piece before it is made.
For those who would like an even clearer idea of the final design, we can also provide a 3D wax model so they can visualise the scale, proportions, and overall feel of the jewellery.
If the piece includes newly sourced gemstones, we can show the customer a curated selection to choose from. Throughout the process, designs can be refined and adjusted until everything feels exactly right.
Once the final design is approved, we take a 50% deposit and begin production. Most bespoke pieces take around six weeks to complete.
Sometimes simpler projects, particularly ones where the customer has their own gold, do not require a CAD design. I melt down a customer’s gold and handcraft the piece directly in our workshop.
Are there any projects that you’ve worked on that stand out as especially meaningful?
One project that really stayed with me involved a customer who inherited several pieces of jewellery from her grandmother. The original ring wasn’t her style, but she loved the sentiment behind it.
Using her granny’s diamonds we created a bespoke wedding band and diamond pendant that the she could wear every day. So she got to preserve the emotional connection to her grandmother while transforming the stones into something that truly reflected her own style.
