Golden years

As Westbourne Grove jeweller EC One celebrates 10 years in the business, The Hill meets the couple behind the business

London’s twinkling array of fine jewellery is becoming ever more innovative and inspirational. The hard-edged days of minimalism are slowly ending, making way for a wealth of precious stones and gold, as well as ethically sourced materials.
One shop that knows more about this transition than most is Westbourne Grove’s design-led EC One, which is currently celebrating 10 years in the industry.
A decade ago Jos Skeates graduated from Central Saint Martins and realised there was no outlet for goldsmiths and jewellery-makers to showcase their design talent. Within three months, he and his wife Alison had opened the first EC One in Clerkenwell. And in 2001, they graced west London with a second branch on Westbourne Grove, familiar territory for Notting Hill local Alison. So what’s it like being married to your business partner? “It’s a master-class in marriage. We are each other’s strengths and weaknesses, I’m the dreamer and she’s the realist. I love it,” reveals Jos. Today the award-winning store
is a hub for women who no longer wait for gifts from lovers, but bejewel themselves. “Today, 80 per cent of our customers are women, which is great and a massive difference from 10 years ago. The other big change is that people want softer, prettier and more intricate pieces.”
Perusing the glittering glass cabinets at the three-floor gallery-style shop, it’s easy to spot this return to romance with designers such as Carolina Burbieri offering delicate hearts and flowers, Ginette NY showcasing romantic flurries, Becca with cute charmlets and Michelle Tuck with dainty photo-etched floral cut-outs. Things are most definitely sitting pretty. The mood is mirrored at nearby boutiques Assya and Dinny Hall, who Jos refers to as friends.
Craftmanship, passion for design and the personal journey from raw material to finished creation is what sets a goldsmith like Jos’ work apart from high street’s fast fashion. Now he and jewel extraordinaire Stephen Webster (who counts Christina Aguilera and Madonna as fans) have each designed one-of-a-kind precious-stone ring to mark the store’s tenth anniversary.
 Stephen’s one off-treasure is in signature layered style, with a sheet of etched aluminium (the traditional material for tenth anniversaries) intercepted by white gold, quartz and diamonds (from £4,290, above); while Jos has created an impressive, mint-green tourmaline Firefly ring set in 18ct white gold and diamonds (£8,490, facing page).
 Having seen more trends come and go than space allows to mention, Jos signals the revival of classic yellow gold as one to watch. “The rise in the price of gold has been astronomical”, he says, “and the next big thing will be fair trade gold.” The environmental and human damage caused by gold mining is cause for serious concern.
EC One has been passionately supporting conflict-free diamonds since 2002 so stocking ethical designers, such as Cred and Oria, as well as their gold-recycling initiative, are two key areas to conquer this year. “Recycling is one of the best ways of not contributing to the gold problem - it’s a win-win situation and we’re very excited by it,” says Jos, who suggests bringing old and unwanted gold for melting down, especially if there’s a wedding coming up, as it will make a very special piece if friends and family have all contributed to it.
So let us salute this ambience for specialist, hand-crafted expertise and think again about that blinging, bounteous gem you spotted last week. l