The final episode of All That Glitters saw the jewellers Tamara Gomez, Daniel Musselwhite and Hugo Luis compete for the desired trophy and the accolade of Britain’s Next Jewellery Star.
Andrew Howard
Lecturer, School of Jewellery
The ‘bestseller’ challenge this week saw the jewellers create a pair of chandelier earrings using some of the most beautiful pearls we’ve ever seen. The lustre of the large pearls Hugo utilised looked amazing, encapsulating his signature textures. We saw Tamara take her ‘unearthed’ style further with a pair of mismatched earrings and Daniel’s signature ‘wave’ link aesthetic shone through.
When we look back over the show we can see a true and unique style of each of the eight jewellers that took part. Whilst watching we paused to consider how our students all get the same working conditions like the jewellers in the show have, although with a slightly longer time scale!
Students are given the same brief, have the same access to provided tools, are given the same deadlines and each one will come up with something completely different.
Hugo’s stunning texture, that casts the light around the piece to make it almost dance, is created using a £2.16 steel burr. The luxury wave forms created by Daniel are mastered using a £28.35 number 2 cut half round file. Tamara’s unique and mesmerising textures are created using some very basic tools, paired with decades of experience. Whilst the tools can be cheap, in part, the passion that the jewellers have cannot be bought nor taught. They have each learned how to use affordable tools to create heirlooms to be passed on to generations to come and taken their own view on design, beauty and elegance.
There are many routes into jewellery making from taking part-time or evening classes around your current workload, to taking up an apprenticeship alongside a master jeweller, and via the educational route at universities. Whatever route you take you will learn new skills, techniques and pick up a large number of tips and tricks to help you become as successful as the jewellers we watched in the All That Glitters final.
The ‘bespoke’ challenge saw the jewellers create their most detailed and difficult piece of work to date and they did not disappoint! The client Akash, an A&E doctor, has commissioned a Maang Tikka for his sister Nikki’s upcoming wedding. A Maang Tikka is an Indian bridal headpiece created using one or three hair chains that connect via a form of clip or hook and is usually created in a very high carat metal such as 18 or even 22ct yellow gold. The jewellers created theirs using 9ct yellow gold, gemstones, pearls and a lot of patience to ensure a perfect finish. To take into account the difficulty of the piece, additional time at their own benches was provided, allowing the jewellers to create certain elements for the piece. The Maang Tikka is not a piece any of the jewellers will have created before so a perfect way to end what has been an amazing series.
Did you have your favourites? Did you agree with the comments made by the judges? Did you pick the winner? Don’t worry for those that haven’t caught up yet there’s no spoilers here because in our eyes Tamara, Daniel and Hugo are all winners!
Missed last night’s episode? Catch up on BBC iPlayer now. If you're interested in taking part in series two, head over to the @allthatglitterscasting Instagram page for more details.
