Earlier this year former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton received $500,000 of diamond and ruby jewellery from King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia. She also received $58,000 of jewellery from Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz from Brunei.
Clearly jewellery is one of the best ways of showing appreciation and strengthening relationships.
Arguably some of the world’s best jewellers belong to the Association for Contemporary Jewellery, the pre-eminent organisation for promoting this type of work. One of its Wessex region members, Abigail Stradling, has been voted Retail Star of the Year at the UK Jewellery Awards 2013. Abigail, a director of Allum & Sidaway, a small firm of jewellers in Salisbury, Wiltshire, has also been included in Professional Jeweller magazine’s HOT 100 2013.
Abigail’s unique work can be seen at Winter Jewels 2, the Association for Contemporary Jewellery (Wessex Region) exhibition at Sir Harold Hiller Gardens in Romsey, Hampshire this November.
“Materials used include silver, gold, precious and semi-precious stones as well as the more unusual such as glass, wood and acrylic,” explains member and jeweller Georgina Ettridge, herself a finalist in the Craft&Design Magazine Selected Awards 2013.
“This event will showcase the work of around 20 individual studio jewellers from Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire, each with their own distinctive designs.”
The exhibition, which runs from Thursday, November 21 until Sunday, December 29 is open every day from 10am to 5pm (excluding Christmas Day and Boxing Day) and is free to enter. There will also be an opportunity for the public to vote for their favourite jeweller and the winner will receive a £50 voucher to spend with the exhibiting jeweller of their choice.
