Why We Still Make Jewellery in London

London has always been part of the SPJ story.

It is where I first discovered jewellery, where I learnt to notice the difference between something simply beautiful and something beautifully made, and where Sophia Perez Jewellery still designs and creates its pieces today.

But choosing to continue making jewellery here is about more than sentiment or tradition.

For me, it is about staying close to the craft.

Every SPJ design begins in our London studio and is made in Hatton Garden, surrounded by generations of jewellery knowledge, specialist skills and people who understand the difference the smallest detail can make.

Staying close to the making

There is something important about being able to see how a piece develops beyond the initial design.

A ring can look perfect as a sketch, but jewellery is three-dimensional. It has weight. It has to sit comfortably on the hand. A stone has to feel balanced within its setting. A curve that looks insignificant on paper can completely change the finished piece once it is made.

Being in London and close to the people making our jewellery means those details do not feel distant from the design process.

We can look at a setting and decide it needs to sit a little lower. We can refine a band because the proportion does not quite feel right. We can consider how a stone looks not only from above, but from the side and on the hand.

That relationship between design and making has always mattered to me.

I grew up watching jewellery being made in my father’s Hatton Garden workshop, and it gave me an instinctive understanding that the finished piece is never just the idea. It is the result of many small decisions made along the way. Today, that connection between design and craftsmanship continues to shape SPJ.

Hatton Garden is more than an address

Hatton Garden has been at the centre of London’s jewellery trade for generations, but what I value most about working here is the concentration of knowledge.

Within a relatively small part of the city are goldsmiths, setters, stone specialists, polishers and suppliers, each with their own area of expertise.

For SPJ, that means the people and materials involved in creating a piece are often much closer than you might imagine.

Where possible, we source gemstones, diamonds and materials through local London suppliers, and our jewellery is handcrafted by local goldsmiths.

There is something reassuring about that closeness.

A piece of fine jewellery may eventually travel anywhere in the world, but its journey through SPJ begins within a community of people who understand the craft intimately.

Why handcraftsmanship still matters

We live in a time when almost everything can be produced faster.

Jewellery can be replicated, scaled and repeated with extraordinary efficiency.

There is a place for that. It simply is not what drew me to jewellery in the first place.

What I love is the human part of making something.

The tiny adjustments. The judgement that comes from experience. The understanding that two stones of technically similar dimensions might need to be treated differently because they do not actually look or behave the same once they are in front of you.

Handcraftsmanship allows a piece to respond to those differences.

It also means we can create jewellery around a particular person rather than expecting the person to fit into a predetermined design.

That is especially important in bespoke work, where the relationship between the stone, setting and wearer needs to feel resolved as a whole.

London tradition, without traditional rules

I have enormous respect for the history of British jewellery making, but preserving craftsmanship does not mean every design needs to look traditional.

In many ways, that contrast is what I love most.

A piece might be made using skills that have been passed down through generations, while the finished ring feels completely contemporary.

A classic round diamond can be given a more modern proportion. A sapphire can bring unexpected colour to a timeless setting. A trilogy can be refined until it feels lighter and cleaner on the hand.

That balance between heritage and individuality has become an important part of the SPJ identity.

We are not interested in repeating the past simply because something has always been done in a certain way.

We want to keep the knowledge, skill and care behind traditional jewellery making while allowing the designs themselves to evolve.

Supporting the skills behind the jewellery

When you choose where something is made, you are also choosing which skills continue to have a future.

Making our jewellery in London allows us to work within the local jewellery trade and support the specialist craftspeople and suppliers who continue to keep Hatton Garden’s knowledge alive.

For me, that matters.

These are skills that take years to develop. Often decades.

And while the finished ring may be the part everyone sees, behind it are many hands, decisions and areas of expertise.

That is something I never want SPJ to lose sight of.

A more personal way of making jewellery

There is another reason I still believe in keeping the making close to home.

Jewellery is personal.

An engagement ring is not simply another object being produced. It may become something someone wears every day for the rest of their life. It may eventually be passed down. It will become associated with moments, people and memories that have nothing to do with the workshop where it began.

That deserves care.

For me, making in London allows SPJ to remain connected to every stage of that journey, from the first conversation and initial sketch to the finished piece.

It means we can continue creating jewellery in a way that feels considered rather than anonymous.