British-made has still got it

I’m a big fan of British-made. Over the course of history, in so many fields, British people and companies have earned a reputation for quality, creativity and ingenuity, and nowhere more so than in jewellery design and manufacture.

I have had the pleasure of visiting two very British firms in Birmingham this month – Domino and Deakin & Francis. The former is a picture of modernity, with state-of-the-art equipment, a large team of highly skilled craftspeople, and processes that have had every drop of inefficiency squeezed out of them.

The latter is a picture of traditionalism, with old-school charm and oodles of passion at its core, but which is transforming itself from a modest firm into an international bran, with growing success overseas.

Against a backdrop of pressure from cheap labour in the developing world, and an industry teeming with powerful, cash-rich luxury brands, both are exemplars of what can be achieved, in Britain no less, with some ambition and nous.

I mention these two purely on account of having visited their factories, but really there are innumerable firms in the UK which share those two characteristics and continue to find success – truly a marvel in such a competitive time.