Isle Jewellery: Sustainable Wedding Rings For Subtle Souls
Would you believe me if I said that Most Curious sustainable fine jewellery designer, Isle Jewellery, was begun in ode to Ireland while designer, Geraldine—or Ger, as she’s often known—was living and working in Japan? Once Ger shares this with me, I can see it in the overall aesthetic of her work and I can’t wait to know more of her story, her sustainable practices and evolving aesthetic.
Originally from Northern Ireland—and she has the lovely lilt to prove it—Geraldine now lives and works in London as a goldsmith, jeweller and designer, but she began her business while teaching English in Tokyo. Her sister, Helen, lives in Belfast and helps run the business. “She helps with the design and always has—even in my degree—we bounce off each other. It would be no fun doing it on my own,” Geraldine says fondly.
Ger named her company for the Emerald Isle, “…especially living far from home you become a bit more nostalgic,” she says. An American ex-pat, at least for now, I know exactly what she means; there’s even an Emerald Isle back home in North Carolina. Growing up, my grandparents had a tiny bungalow on the island and we would spend our summer holidays there, walking down to the beach every day. I mention that to Geraldine and she’s surprised there’s a reference to her home near mine. In Japan, very few people knew much about Ireland—she tells me the story of someone saying they love Björk in response to learning of her nationality. “I mean, who doesn’t? But she’s not from Ireland!” Isle Jewellery was begun in part to bring a bit of Celtic cultural awareness to the intrigued people of Japan.
Isle Jewellery began in earnest in 2014, “…but really it was a few years later that I really took it on properly and registered it here in the UK and it became a UK and Irish company.” Now, Ger finds that her collections blend the best of Japanese minimalism and dedication to fine quality materials with the earthy, subtle elements of Irish culture that reflect the landscape of home.
“Even our displays have elements from things I’ve seen in Japan—their retail and shopfronts are gorgeous. The striving for simplicity and quality drives me now.” Ger’s still learning from Japanese culture, even now that she’s working and designing here in the UK, particularly how to distill simple things out of her grandest ideas.“I spend a lot of time subtracting.”
Originally an art student before her eight-year Japanese sojourn, Geraldine used to design truly outlandish, oversized art pieces and wear them herself. This intrigues me to no end—I’d love to see these, and I mention it to Ger. She tells me a secret: she might find a way to integrate her love for statement jewellry in her upcoming collection—a pair of opal earrings might make it to the show, done in a style reminiscent of her original sensibilities.
“We design for people who notice the differences and the story,” Geraldine tells me.
Her clients are often design-led; she’s had her fair share of architects commission her for bespoke projects. “They recognize the details,” she says. Her clients enjoy her slow pace and refusal to mass-produce her pieces, “They don’t buy a lot, but they invest.” And what better piece to invest in than wedding jewellery?
“Wedding rings are potentially the only thing that lasts past your wedding day,” Geraldine remarks softly. It’s not just past the wedding day though—your wedding rings can outlast even you, if they’re well-made and well-loved. “It is sentimental jewelry,” Ger says, bringing her hands together gently. “People wear their grandparent’s rings.” I smile and mention my own wedding bands—rings that did more than outlast my grandparent’s wedding day, they outlasted their nearly fifty-year marriage and their lives. Now, these same rings will be the ones I wear every day of my own. Geraldine is right—wedding rings have the unique power to both outlast their intended and renew their value—they are a priceless palimpsest.
Geraldine is kind enough to marvel at my rings with me—she’s a fellow sentimental soul. The alternating dark blue sapphires and scintillating diamonds of my wedding band intrigue her. “I always shy away from blues—I’m going to work with those for that reason,” she tells me as I learn more about her upcoming designs. For the first time she’s really investing in color, but still doing it her own way. She cites William Scott, a mid-century painter, as an inspiration for her work; according to Ger, Scott finds beauty in the mundane and that’s what she looks to do with her designs. She loves the way simple things are rendered so pure by Scott’s hand.
Take a diamond: something simple, something taken for granted even, but also so pure when rendered by the right artist. “It’s always been just champagne and black diamonds and I love them. Champagne to cognac diamonds—these tasty drinks diamonds—you can see the hints of various colors turning them from champagne to cognac. I used to not even like diamonds, but since seeing them and working with them in real life they are really beautiful and you can get lost in them.”
I ask how to get started working with Isle Jewellery—sometimes taking the plunge can be so intimidating, particularly if you’re looking for a bespoke piece. “It’s been a lot of different personalities so far—some of them nervous guys, panicking. My speciality is to calm and help them through it.” An assumption Geraldine would like to set-straight: commissioning a bespoke piece doesn’t have to be really expensive, nor a difficult process. Besides, value and price are very different things. Also, according to Ger, “It’s a fun process!”
To break it down simply, Geraldine will begin with a budget—“I don’t want people to go beyond themselves, that’s not what our designs are for,”—then the client’s hopes will be discussed and imagery will be utilized to get an idea of style. An important part of the process for Geraldine is learning about the lifestyle of the person who will be wearing the piece—do they work with their hands? Then they might need a more durable stone—she designs for your daily life. “We hone in on smaller details and get closer to a design—when I talk with you I often come up with an intuitive design that’s right—it’s not often that bit changes.” A 50% deposit begins production, which takes roughly 6-8 weeks. “I send pictures when it’s being made to include them in the story,” Ger tells me.
Whose story does Geraldine want to tell? Everyone’s!
“Our forte is empathy and relating to people—we want to cater to the individual and design for everyone. Some of our rings are genderless; I would love to learn more about a nonbinary aesthetic. Something doesn’t sit right by assigning jewelry by a gender-binary—we want to be a service to erase those fine lines.” Devoted to Most Curious’s ethos of inclusivity, Geraldine plans to continue taking consistent steps to make sure everyone understands that her designs are meant for all. “We are trying to present the jewellery with a hint of home, but not in a way that excludes—it’s universal, [someone of] a different heritage can read something else in our jewellery.”
I think Geraldine’s intentions will be met with tangible actions very soon if her sustainability standards are anything to go by. “Especially for bespoke we use fair-mined gold, licensed gold from small, artisanal mines; they are verified and are practicing environmentally-friendly and ethical mining—you hear some stories of unregulated mines…it’s awful.” Ger tells me about the Kimberley Process, which has to do with authenticating the jewel supply chain and keeping diamonds conflict-free; her reputation isn’t just about sustainability, but ethics. “We are looking to get as responsible as possible,“ Geraldine says of both her source materials and her sources. The one thing keeping her up at night? A single non-sustainable sponge layer in her packaging that she hasn’t found an alternative for—yet.
As we wrap up, I ask Geraldine what people should expect from her at the March 2022 Most Curious Wedding Fair. She giggles, her face lighting up, “Two slightly goofy, grinning, Irish girls,” she teases, “And a lot of beautiful things—a lot of things to inspire and hopefully make you feel good about your wedding day and all it represents.”
Isle Jewellery is no stranger to Most Curious, “We did it two years ago on the cusp of the pandemic—our first time there. We just loved it—all the skill and everyone different and refreshing. It felt really cozy, but we met so many people. I designed an engagement ring for another of the exhibitors—her boyfriend contacted us a year later!”
“Most Curious’s attitude or atmosphere seems really real and really right—it’s not just a wedding business churning out the same stuff, it’s more real and more honest.” I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment. It’s so wonderful to have spent an hour softly speaking about the finer things, such as wedding rings and crafting a bit of home into subtle, enduring designs with this gentle soul. “We’re quiet, we’re shy, but we want to be involved,” Ger says of herself and her sister, Helen, both of whom will be in attendance at the show. In response, I tell her about one of the amazing outcomes of our first Coalition meet-up: a quiet hour is to be implemented every day of the fair, which will be a more sensorially-friendly time for our attendees and suppliers. She’s delighted and I can’t wait to speak to her more then and see what new, colorful, conscientious designs she will bring to the show.