Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design
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I'm pleased to announce that our Autumn Jewellery Collection is launched on our sister site www.purple-label.com.

For the perfect jewellery to go with this season's colours, take a look

All our jewellery is handmade is small runs in our studio in Hertfordshire and we'll send it out with a handwritten card if you're sending a gift.

Harriet

We are doing a Twitter promotion up until the end of September 2011.

I have made 5 beautiful pairs of these long sterling silver and hematite earrings to give away.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is...

(1) Follow us@HarrietKelsall on twitter

(2) Tweet "Follow @HarrietKelsall for the chance to win a pair of hematite long drop earrings"

(3) Tweet to us (@HarrietKelsall) something about jewellery – it could be a comment about our jewellery, a pic of you in your jewellery, or a funny story...anything you like (but please keep it clean!).

I will choose my 5 favourite ones at the end of September to be the winners.

Good luck!

Harriet

I'm so thrilled to say that our wonderful, beautiful Verity who works with us on Saturdays in Halls Green got 3 As for her A levels - brilliant! Well done Verity!

Harriet

Today I'd like to introduce you to part of the corundum family, partly as the stone for the impending month September is Sapphire!

Natural Corundum

The corundum family consists of pure aluminium oxide, which a long time ago was caused to crystallise into beautiful and splendid gemstones by the pressure and heat in the depths of the ground. Corundum is naturally clear, but can have different colours when impurities are added. Small proportions of other elements, mainly iron and chrome, are responsible for the resulting colours and make the basically white crystals a blue, red, yellow, pink or greenish Sapphire. But this does not necessarily imply that any corundum is a sapphire.

Which stone may be termed a Sapphire? This is a question which for centuries has fuelled heated discussions among experts

Finally agreement was achieved to call ruby-red Sapphires "Rubies", and all other colours "Sapphires".

Sapphires are available in virtually all colours.

Sapphires

Blue Sapphires are the most valuable (the presence of trace impurities of iron and titanium is responsible for that beautiful, vibrant, deep blue colour), followed by Pink and Padparadscha Sapphires. Padparadscha Sapphires have orange pink or pink orange colouration and rival Blue Sapphires in value.

Palladium, sapphire and diamond modern cluster ring, currently in our Cambridge ready to wear collection

This pretty ring has been loosely inspired by Kate Middleton's choice to wear Diana's sapphire and diamond cluster ring - but this is a very modern interpretation of a sapphire and diamond cluster. the ring holds sapphires in graduated shades of blue and a diamond in a circle symbolising eternity.

You can also get yellow, pink, orange, white and black sapphires, my favorite sapphire being a green sapphire!

This is a previously commissioned engagement ring

Elizabeth wanted a trilliant cut green sapphire in her engagement ring

Elizabeth's palladium engagement ring holds a beautiful 1.14ct 6mm trilliant cut green sapphire in an all around setting with a rectangular cut out window

Sapphire is the Gem of Destiny. It will bring out the best within you and help make your dreams come true. Sapphires have always been associated with luck in romance. It is said to bring peace and happiness. Relieves mental depression and stimulates motivation and goal orientation. It represents faith and hope. This stone will help you with the heart and stomach. Strengthens the eyes, helps take down fever, and can help with nose bleedings. Good to wear for mental health. (I should wear more Sapphire)

The name sapphire comes from the Latin "sapphirus", which means blue. In the 7th Century B.C. sapphire was popular with the Etruscans, and there is later documented use in Greece, Rome and Egypt. In the 11th Century it was a celebrated stone used by both kings and clergy. By the Renaissance, it was popular among the wealthy elite. Sapphire was said to protect kings from jealousy and danger. In the 13th Century it was said to possess the power to prevent poverty.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little journey into the history and folklore surrounding Sapphires…….

Until the next time.

Angela

It is always really lovely for us when our customers e-mail to say thank you for their jewellery and they say the most wonderful and nice things about us - we really appreciate it. Also it is great when customers post reviews of our work on our facebook page www.facebook.com/HarrietKelsall, via our twitter account @HarrietKelsall. It was great recently when some customers twittered us a picture of their rings on as a very happy couple.

It is also really lovely for us when happy customers put reviews on review sites and we are always really grateful for this positive boost about us getting 'out there' on the internet.

There are some really good review sites out there and I know that I personally use them for quite a few things when I am looking for a good restaurant, hotel, or whatever. Some of our favourites are...

Freeindex

The review centre

Local Secrets

Touch Cambridge

But there are lots more great review sites out there too.

It is always tricky, I think, when you are looking at reviews because sometimes you aren't sure if they are genuine or not. I know we had an awful experience recently when another random Jeweller started putting up nasty and untrue reviews which they had entirely fabricated online. Luckily Freeindex spotted it straight away and they have been taken off now. But I can certainly say that every single positive review on there is genuinely from a happy customer and not made up by our staff or something!

Oh - and when your ring has been photographed and goes up onto our site, if you look at the 'details page' of your ring by clicking onto the photograph of it twice, you will then see a button via which you can then 'like' it on Facebook which is a good way to show it off to all of your friends too (don't worry - there won't be any price information on there or anything embarrassing like that!).

Hi,

We now have a professionally made video about the company which you can see on youtube. It features an interview with Harriet Kelsall and a many shots of designers and goldsmiths working in our studio in Hertfordshire.

Take a look at the video by clicking here

Tim

We just love it when you follow us on twitter (@HarrietKelsall ) or 'like' us on our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/HarrietKelsall - but why would you do that?

At the moment, I run the twitter account personally and so it is lovely to hear from you all directly. It took me a while to get into it all but I am not understanding it all a bit better! It was especially lovely the other day when, for example, some customers twittered the link to their engagement photos including our rings. Also another customer twittered to tell us they had received their rings and loved them just as soon as she had opened the boxes.

Also following us on twitter can be a good way to see sneak previews of things that you wouldn't otherwise see online. For example, I made some little charm bracelets the other day, each a one-off so they won't be available online, just in the stores. But I had twittered a picture of them and a lovely customer saw the picture on facebook and twitter, loved them, phoned us, and had one arrive for her 14 year-old daughter's birthday the very next day. So it is a great way of getting something new that nobody else will have had the chance to see.

Also we have been doing things like giving sneak previews of the Autumn and Winter collection shoots on facebook as well as bragging about our new award - hurrah!

Also we always social network any job vacancies that we might have (like our current marketing assistant potision) so it is a good way to find out about those first before they hit the recruitment press.

Our plan soon is to also release a few discount voucher codes on twitter and Facebook over the next few months for www.purple-label.com . We normally do these via e-mail but always worry about clogging up your busy inboxes. So if you follow us on these social network channels, you won’t miss out on some fab discounts.

I’ll look forward to your tweets!

Harriet

We are very pleased to announce that Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design Ltd has been listed in the Retail Jeweller Magazine's Inspiring Independents top 50.

The award was started in order to recognise a really good independent jewellery retailer and was openly voted for by anybody within or outside the industry. The top 50 jewellers have been voted in. Thank you very much to our customers who voted for us - we really appreciate it and it means a lot to know that so many of you took the trouble to vote for us. We are very proud to have been chosen amongst the top 50 UK independent jewellers and are very proud to be able add this to our list of 2011 achievements so soon after winning our UK Jewellery Award back in July.

This one means a lot to us because being independent is why we are able to stand out and be different from other jewellers and we really hope to be inspiring to others too.

Since being listed in the top 50, we have been asked to vote for the other 49 independents and then our votes for each other will establish the actual order of our places within the 50. We will find out our position at International Jewellery London at the beginning of September - fingers crossed!

Harriet

Hi Everyone

We are happy to inform you of up coming Sunday's and Bank holiday Monday we are open over the Summer and into Autumn, in our Halls Green Showroom and our Cambridge Studio

Sunday 14th August 10.30 to 3.30pm (Hertfordshire studio)

Bank Holiday Monday 29th August 10.30 to 3.00pm (Hertfordshire studio)

Sunday 18th Septemeber 11.00 to 4.40pm (Cambridge studio)

Sunday 2nd October 10.30 to 3.30pm (Hertfordshire studio)

Sunday 13th November 11.00 to 4.30pm (Cambridge studio)

Appointments for bespoke rings and jewellery are sure to book up fast so please book well in advance. The showrooms will be open as usual where you can browse our ready to wear jewellery or speak with someone about commissioning something from us.

Harriet

This ring is inspired by a crashing wave, as you can see the pale blue Sapphire represents the sea it's self and the three diamonds symbolizing the foam spray rolling off the top of the wave, skilfully made in a pave set giving the ring a nice rub over style.

The shear beauty of this ring for me is the cut of the Sapphire and how much thought has gone into it. Firstly the cut as it stating in the description half a heart shape which seems to be the perfect symbol for an engagement ring, until working here I have never seen a cut like this and I am a big fan of all unique stones.

Secondly has to be the colour of the sapphire, pale blue is a perfect choice to signify the sea. Had this sapphire been a deep blue I think the representation of the ring would not have worked as well. This stunning stone truly gives that prefect look of the sea.

And on a week like this and as hot is it is outside, if you was proposing on a lovely sunny beach with the waves slowly coming in, it would be a faultless way of popping the question with this amazing piece for any couple.

I invite you to come see this remarkable one off piece here in our Cambridge studio.

And have a look at many more of our wonderfully inspired rings. Or just comes in and talk to us about what inspires you this summer.

Look forward to seeing from you here.

Iain

We have had a lot of customers contacting us recently about 40th wedding anniversary presents. Rubies. are widely associated with this anniversary and I thought that I would take this opportunity to find out a little bit more about this beautiful stone. Rubies are one of the most popular gemstones, along with Sapphires, the other gemstone in the Corundum family. Ruby is the only stone in the corundum family to be limited to a colour, with deep brownish red to pinkish/ purplish red stones being classed as rubies. All gem-quality corundum that is not red is called Sapphire with paler pink stones usually classed as pink sapphires rather than rubies.

Rubies vary greatly in price depending on their quality. The finest rubies come from Burma, but they are also found in many other countries such as Afghanistan, Africa, Australia and even Greenland. Rubies are classed in a similar way to diamonds and are valued by size, colour, clarity and cut. Large rubies can be more valuable than comparable diamonds and are certainly rarer.

Some rubies, when cut into cabochon, display a six rayed star which seems to glide across the domed surface of the stone. This asterism is very rare and makes fine star rubies very valuable. This same star can be found in some cabochon cut sapphires also, and these star sapphires can vary in colour although the most prevalent are a greyish white or greyish blue.

Ruby is often linked to love and romance, making it a very fitting gemstone for jewellery to be used as a gift for a loved one. Rubies look wonderful set in eternity rings and pendants which are both excellent ideas for wedding anniversary presents. It is also a very tough gemstone, second only to Diamond, at 9 on the Mohs scale of hardness, so it is an ideal choice for engagement rings too.

One of my favourite engagement rings in our ready to wear collection in Halls Green is a Tanzanian ruby and diamond ethical engagement ring. This ring holds a really striking 1.04ct ruby and side diamonds which have been recycled, originally coming from a pair of antique earrings. The stones have been set in palladium, which in itself is quite an environmentally friendly metal as it is mined as a byproduct of mining platinum. The band of the ring is 9ct rose gold which sets off the diamonds and stunning pinky red of the ruby perfectly.

Why not use this beautiful gemstone as a starting point for your own unique commission? Whether it be a Ruby engagement ring, eternity ring or a pair of ruby earrings., we would love to speak to you about your ideas so please get in touch and we can guide you through the process.