A trained anthropologist, Small was inspired by indigenous people who imbued their jewellery with talismanic significance. She began creating pieces for friends, and fans now include Julia Roberts and Mick Jagger. She has been a consultant for Gucci and has created a jewelled bag for Chloé. Her designs are simple and tactile — even diamonds are left uncut.
PHILIPPA HOLLAND
Her jewellery has the feelgood factor in more ways than one: the semiprecious gems she uses have been cleared of negative energy and programmed with positive vibes by her meditation teacher. Sienna Miller, a friend and fan, declared that the peacefulness and clarity emanating from the pieces she wore during the filming of Alfie helped her at the beginning of her relationship with Jude Law. Holland loves colour, and her current collection is inspired by Romany and Rajasthani gypsies.
NATASHA DAHLBERG
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Dahlberg claims that her pieces “look like you’ve made them yourself“ — but you’d have to have a magpie’s taste for sparkle and an artist’s eye for colour to create anything as precious. Matthew Williamson agrees. After a chance meeting with Dahlberg in Ibiza, he asked the Brighton-based designer to create a range of pieces for his London boutique. Laura Bailey, Bay Garnett and Elle Macpherson are fans, and Gwyneth Paltrow commissioned a necklace for herself and a bracelet featuring an apple charm for her daughter.
CHRISTINA DARRAS
A visual artist first and foremost, Darras has always flirted with fashion. In the past, she has designed prints for Clements Ribeiro and created a sellout range of beaded bags. She has been making jewellery for the past year and claims she will continue “until I get bored”. Her latest collection is called Plastic Fantastic — by her own admission, her jewellery “tends towards the kitsch”. The chunky, jelly-like beads, the size and hue of boiled sweets, are sourced from tiny stores in her native Athens. She hopes that her one-off necklaces will make people smile: “I make jewellery for girls who want to have a happy day.”
NATASHA COLLIS
Collis’s jewellery may look delicate but, she says, she wears it constantly, even when swimming in the sea in Ibiza, where she spends half the year. After training in fine art, she started making jewellery five years ago. She has an impeccable fashion pedigree — her grandmother, Joan Burstein, founded Browns, the leading London boutique, and her mother works there, too. The chameleon artist Cindy Sherman is said to be a fan. Collis’s handmade pieces, using tiny and irregular stones, have an organic feel to them. “I work with the gems to create one-offs,” she says.
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FARAONE MENNELLA
Childhood friends Roberto Faraone Mennella and Amadeo Scognamiglio grew up together in Italy, but both gravitated to New York. Scognamiglio worked in his family’s cameo-carving business and Faraone Mennella studied marketing. Huge cuffs and dramatic gobstopper rings from their collection were snapped up by Patricia Field, the superstylist for Sex and the City. Fans include Sarah Jessica Parker and Scarlett Johansson, but their true muses are their grandmothers. “We want to create instant heirlooms,” they say.