Materials & care

Everything here is made by hand, which means it will wear the way handmade things do: slowly, and in your direction. A little care keeps it close to the day it reached you.

What it's made of

Silver. Unless a piece says otherwise, it is 92.5 sterling silver: 92.5 parts pure silver to 7.5 parts copper, which gives soft metal the strength to hold a setting for decades. Some pieces are left bright, and a few are oxidised on purpose, darkened so the carving reads. That darkness is the finish, not tarnish.

The gold finish. Most pieces are finished in gold over the silver. It is a surface, so it wears where the piece rubs most: the inside of a ring, the back of a pendant, the clasp. That is the piece taking the shape of your life. When you'd like it bright again, we can refinish it.

Brass. A few pieces, such as the Vrata cuff and the Tapasvini ring, are brass finished in gold. They are lighter on the hand and lower in price, and they are always marked brass so you know what you're choosing.

Stones. The stones are set by hand, close in gold, the way temple jewellery has always been made. Kundan is a setting, not a stone: each one is pressed into a bed of gold foil so it catches light from behind. Every stone is chosen by eye, so no two pieces are quite the same.

Enamel, filigree and pearl. Enamel is coloured glass fired onto metal. It is hard, but it can chip if it's knocked against stone or tile. Filigree is silver drawn as fine as thread and worked by hand, so it bends before it breaks. Pearls are the softest thing we use; they dull with perfume and lose their lustre if they're kept from the air for too long.

Beads and thread. Many necklaces are strung on thread and finished with a cord at the back, so you can set them as close as you like. Thread is meant to be renewed. When a strand starts to stretch, bring it back to us and we'll restring it.

How to care for it

Put it on last and take it off first. Perfume, creams and hairspray go on before your jewellery. It comes off before you bathe, swim, sleep or go to the gym.

Wipe it after you wear it. A soft, dry cotton cloth is enough. On plain silver you can use a silver polishing cloth to bring back the shine. Never use one on gold-finished, oxidised or enamel pieces, and never dip any piece in a silver cleaning liquid: it strips the finish.

Keep it dry and keep it apart. Store each piece on its own, in a zip-lock pouch or an airtight box, so stones don't scratch each other and moisture can't get in. A sachet of silica gel in the box helps, especially in the monsoon or if you live by the sea. Velvet holds moisture, so we don't recommend velvet boxes for gold-finished pieces.

Lay pearls and strung pieces flat. Hanging them stretches the thread.

Be gentle with filigree. Lift it by the clasp or the chain, not by the lace.

When it needs us

We look after what we make. Bring a piece back to the Lavelle Road store, or write to us on WhatsApp, and we'll clean it, refinish the gold, reset a loose stone or restring a necklace. Some of this is free; anything that needs the workshop, we'll quote for before we begin.

Our store is open Monday to Friday, 11 am to 6 pm.