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An Encounter with the Butler
Jo designs and creates everything in her own workshop, right down to the leaf settings found on her signature flower motifs. Each setting is a unique design, and there are no mass-manufactured parts, except for the tiny silver clasps used for necklaces and bracelets. Many months of work can go into the creation of a single piece, and a number of prototypes must be produced before any design can be offered for sale.
Traditional silversmithing and metalworking techniques are used to make and finish each piece. The silver is polished by hand to what is known as a “butler” finish, so called because it simulates the look that was achieved by the butler in wealthy households, where repeated and prolonged hand polishing resulted in a slightly deadened "bright" finish with a deep lustre.
We employ a select group of suppliers, hand-picked by Jo over many years. Many are family run businesses that have traded for generations from within the heart of London's jewellery quarter, where you can still gain a fine sense of the old capital and its oldest trades.
If you’ve had a glimpse into the labyrinth of tiny workshops hidden away down marble stairways and behind heavy timber doors, you’ll recognise the smell of burning flux, rouge, and melting wax drifting up from this subterranean world – a fitting incense for an ancient tradition.
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