As a personal bespoke jeweller Roger finds that his clients often return for further pieces and recommend him to friends and colleagues.  Even more so in family connections, and what a pleasure it is to get to know the family tree and the likes and tastes of the whole family and become their ‘family jeweller’.

In one case in point a father commissioned one of Roger’s signature ‘Oyster’ diamond rings for his wife.  A while later his prospective son in law remembered how delighted she had been and came to see Roger when he was ready to propose to one of the lady’s two daughters.  He chose a top grade round brilliant diamond under Roger’s unique ‘Naked diamond package’ where the diamond is chosen and presented and the recipient then gets to be totally involved in the design details.  She accepted his proposal and together they detailed the design of the ring with Roger and then later the diamond set wedding bands too.

Time passed and their first child arrived and he came secretly to commission a diamond eternity ring for his wife; followed closely by his father in law to commission a diamond pendant as a surprise present for his wife.

Later the other sister also commissioned her diamond set wedding band from Roger.

“I don’t know what to say …it’s simply perfect!

Thank you so much for all your help, expertise and patience.  Thank you also for getting it to us for this weekend, it will certainly add some extra sparkle to the celebrations!”

Sarah Card

Something all our clients have in common is a love of beautiful things, inspired design, excellent craftsmanship and customer care.  This particular client also needed something quite outside of Roger’s life experience.

Steven said he wanted “something really out of the ordinary”, as a surprise gift for a special birthday celebration for his wife.  He knew she had often remarked that she would have loved to have her late grandmother’s gold mezuzah pendant to pass on down the generations, but it had not come to her.  For those without knowledge of Jewish tradition (which included Roger when he began this commission!) the Mezuzah is a religious talisman – a prayer handwritten by a rabbi on a parchment scroll and normally mounted in a simple case fixed to the owner’s doorpost.  However, the case is sometimes worn as a pendant when it may be developed into a piece of precious jewellery.  Steven searched the top London West End shops and the relevant Jewish websites for such a pendant, but failed to find the quality he sought.

He finally found Roger. He viewed an initial selection of diamonds and under Roger’s expert guidance, decided on a Marquise cut stone as the most elegant for the intended piece and insisted he must have the very best quality.  However ‘D’ flawless diamonds of over one carat in the marquise cut are not the most readily available.  Roger instigated an international search, rejecting several for poor proportions or imperfect cut and finally sourced the ideal stone.

Admitting to possessing little aesthetic talent, the client left the design to Roger – and was ecstatic on seeing the result.  “I am delighted with the imaginative elegant simplicity of the form, so beautifully finished – this far exceeds my expectations.”  He could not have hoped for a better reaction from his wife.  “After years of hinting to an apparently deaf husband I finally get a Mezuzah pendant beyond my wildest dreams – a truly wonderful heirloom”.

“Thank you so much for the exquisite diamond Mezuzah. It stunned Maggie – and my daughters and grand-daughters also thought it magnificent. And thank you also for the trouble you took in researching the details required for this article by tradition. ‘Above and beyond’ I would say – but simply gorgeous. The several other diamond and sapphire pieces we have since asked you to produce have been uniformly magnificent. We have been particularly impressed by your design interpretation given the vagueness of our requests.”

Maggie and Steve Hills

Our client Marion loves unusual jewellery and came up with the idea that, to celebrate a milestone birthday, she’d like a cocktail ring for special events.

She had previously seen some examples of Roger’s bold modern designs for pendants, incorporating traditional handmade filigree set with gems.  She felt that a ring incorporating this idea would be something rather special.  Between them they dreamed up a bold shank with a domed oval setting enclosing delicate filigree with a selection of gems in champagne and amber hues set within the filigree.

Whilst conceptualising the piece only took a couple of hours with heads together over afternoon tea one Saturday afternoon, the creation of this unusual piece took a lot of planning, care, ingenuity, skill and application.  Firstly the gems of the desired colour, quality and size had to be chosen by Marion from a selection presented by Roger from his trusted suppliers.

To achieve the colour range, Roger showed diamonds, sapphires and Spessartine garnet.  Marion’s final choice was six round brilliant diamonds in various champagne tones, two fine round golden yellow sapphires and two round spessartine garnets – a total of 1.5 carats.

Roger and Marion worked out a pleasing ‘random’ layout of stones to be set in an oval space.

Roger arranged for his associate in Malta, a tutor and maker of traditional filigree for which that country is famed, to create a design in fine filigree in 18 carat yellow gold, to Roger’s specification.

Meanwhile, the shank of the ring and the oval head were made in the studio in 18ct white gold.  The head had to be carefully curved to wrap around the finger before attaching to the shank.  Round collets were made in 18 carat gold to suit the selected gem sizes.

The delicate, flat filigree piece was then carefully curved to match the oval head.  Next the stones were set in the collets which were then fitted into the filigree tracery.  The filigree was then secured in the head of the ring.

Finally the ring was extremely carefully polished.

When Marion collected the ring, and was absolutely delighted with it, Roger reminded her of her promise to wear it only for special occasions as she’d specified.   Needless to say she left the studio wearing it for a visit to the local tea shop with her beloved mother – a truly special occasion!

Roger is well known and respected in London and the South East of England and has built up a loyal client base across the area.  His jewellery designs are also proudly owned by clients in North America, Canada, Switzerland and Russia.  Recently thanks to the power of the World Wide Web, a young romantic living and working in Mexico selected him as his designer of choice for his lady’s engagement ring and travelled Surrey to agree the design then proposed when hiking on Machu Pichu. His lady was truly breathless with excitement and, of course, said yes!!  She has since come over from Mexico to visit the studio at Nutfield herself to see where the creative process happens.

Roger’s engagement rings have attended romantic proposals across the globe from Botswana in a truck in the desert, to Italy where the ring was hidden in a chocolate pudding!  His wedding rings have been exchanged at society weddings in the UK, family weddings in Greece and Russia and North America, beach weddings in South America and on the Canadian ski slopes. One couple from El Salvador tied the knot at Lake Coatepeque.

 

In contrast to this global activity, Roger Elliott Designs is a very ‘up close and personal’ bespoke jewellery business involving face to face meetings and discussions to ascertain exactly what a client is dreaming of to celebrate their special occasion.  Then fulfilling that dream with a piece of bespoke, high quality, individualised jewellery.

 

 

 

“So I left just enough time to go to the VAT place at the airport.  They were super nice and chatty saying that it was a really beautiful ring and I walked out with the cash VAT refund! 

After we went for swim and kayak this morning I got down on one knee. Maria is so happy and so am I.  Can’t thank you enough for making such a beautiful ring and we’ll see you soon.”

Danny Tull

A regular client, who had commissioned several pieces for his wife over a few years, decided to treat his five adult granddaughters.  A pendant design was chosen, based on an open teardrop shape with an offset mounted gemstone.  There followed much deliberation about the choice of gemstones and the colour of gold.  Eventually he decided to forsake the surprise gift approach and discuss it with the young ladies offering them a choice of yellow or white 18ct gold with a Pink Sapphire or an Aquamarine gemstone.

The individual selections were made and Roger produced the five pieces, identical but for the colours.  The five ladies proclaimed themselves delighted and arranged a group photo with them all wearing their gifts which adorns Roger’s studio today. A happy conclusion for a generous grandad.

In a fit of excitement on the birth of his first great granddaughter he commissioned another pendant to be ‘laid down’ until the child matured.  Since then a veritable stream of great grandchildren has ensued! But, somehow, great granddad is still smiling!

“A brief note to you, Mr Elliott, thanking you for the matching set of 5 pendants that our grandparents had made for us. They are so lovely and it was much appreciated that you gave us a choice of gold colour and gem stone for each. Please find enclosed a photo of our collective persona displaying them at a recent dinner.”

The 5 ‘Yews’ girls

Very often when choosing a bespoke piece of jewellery for a gift, the giver and recipient come to the studio together to discuss their preferences, dreams and of course budget.

However there are still those who would prefer to surprise their loved one with a specially thought out and commissioned piece.  Colin was one such romantic and wanted to present something really special to his wife for their ruby anniversary.  However having been together for more than a few happy years he was well aware that she had good and rather particular taste in clothes and jewellery and was also knowledgeable about jewellery and gem quality and provenance.

Even so, he decided to see Roger alone and maintain secrecy until the big day!   Quite a feat for someone living 40 minutes away by fast sports car and usually easily to be contacted by his spouse in and around Hove and Brighton.  So the meetings were very clandestine and had to be extremely short and focussed.

There had to be a ruby – and it had to be the very best. However, the stone shape had yet to be decided; what the piece itself should be had to be decided and a detailed design had to be finalised – all bearing in mind his lady’s taste.  He also had to choose which precious metal and whether to have accompanying diamonds and of what shape and size.  Rather a lot of decisions to make!

However, with Roger’s patience, talent and skill and Colin’s enthusiasm and imagination, he was able to present his wife with a teardrop pendant in platinum with a fine pear shaped ruby of 1.56 carat, supported asymmetrically in the frame by a smaller round brilliant diamond and eight pavé-set diamonds on the opposite side of the pendant.  She was delighted and apparently wears it every day.