Earl's Court Hell: the best of IJL

'Tied-up' earrings by Lauren Adriana. 18ct yellow gold with rubies, smoky quartz, and trillion cut prasiolite.

Ahh, IJL. Four days of all things jewellery....designers, stone dealers, tool and packaging manufacturers, no natural light, overpriced food, and people stealing your designs. Fantastic.

Our visit usually consists of a walk straight to the back section - where the new design talent is grouped together - and a brisk meander through all the mediocrity to hunt down anything decent.

And this is what we liked this year: Duffy, Kity Sun (no website yet), Andy Farrow, Lauren Adriana, Phoebe Coleman and Yuki Mitsuyasu. And all for different reasons.

Starting with the high-end fine jewellery is Lauren Adriana. A young and perky St Martin's graduate, Lauren has created a very British brand image; polished, classic, with serious statement jewellery.

A small and finely honed collection of one-off show-stoppers, as well as more traditional engagement ring styles (albeit with really nice detailing on the stone setting) Lauren has ventured straight into the deep-end for her impressively grown-up debut.


The stand-out pieces are the one offs: the 'Mondrian' earrings (above) in black rhodium plated 18ct gold with rubies, black sapphires and the huge bespoke cut quartz drops are a great example of unique and unusual setting techniques - combined with the original cut of the quartz makes these a really stunning pair...we're loving black rhodium and seeing more and more of it around at the moment, too.

This 'Thistle' pendant (above) is also an impressive piece - and one which should have Stephen Webster feeling slightly concerned over his current reign as 'designer-with-the-craziest-yet-strangely-commercial-at-the-same-time-settings-for-the-biggest-rocks-in-London'.

It may look scarily spikey, but we've worn it and it's actually really comfortable - mainly due to the expert craftsmanship that has gone into the designing and the making - in fact, the back of the piece is so gorgeous you could wear it back to front. Yes. It's that good.

Have a look at the very prim and proper website at www.laurenadriana.com - we think prim and proper is an excellent route to take in the very overcrowded 'we're so rock'n'roll' market that most London jewellers seem to be occupying (or trying to) at the moment.


The classic British elegance of Lauren Adriana, combined with a bravery to go for unusual stones and settings, gives the brand an edge that most do not possess this early on in their lifespan...

All images copyright Lauren Adriana 2009.