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By the top of subsequent month, the vintage and diamond specialist Hancocks could have moved from its cramped quarters in London’s Burlington Arcade to a newly restored Georgian townhouse on close by St James’s Road. Reverting to its unique identify — Home of Hancocks — the brand new premises will characteristic three flooring of gallery area showcasing vintage jewels, heritage exhibitions, and a library, with one flooring dedicated to bespoke engagement rings set with the best vintage-cut diamonds.
In contrast with the small retail unit that Hancocks has occupied since 1997, it’s a important step up. Director Man Burton says the area within the Arcade “doesn’t befit what we promote, that are a number of the rarest jewels in the marketplace”. They embody vintage tiaras — which stay very talked-about and an merchandise Hancocks as soon as made — and uncommon Victorian, Edwardian and mid-century jewelry. “We’re going again to being a jewelry home with galleries of fastidiously curated vintage items, and making it extra experience-led, with the purpose of it changing into a vacation spot,” he says.
The corporate was based by Charles Hancock, in Bond Road, in 1849, making silverware and diamond jewelry — at a time when London was a significant centre for diamond chopping. In 1856, Hancock was granted the Royal Warrant by Queen Victoria that included making the Victoria Cross, which it continues to do right now.
Forward of its transfer, Hancocks employed a historian to analysis the story of the corporate — a part of its archive was misplaced throughout the first world warfare — in addition to that of the 1740s constructing it’s now transferring into. One of many exhibition shows will characteristic the coats of arms of households that Hancocks has served — together with German, Austrian and Russian royals, in addition to the Shah of Persia.
“I like historical past, and it’s massively vital from a advertising perspective,” says Burton. “[It] earns the arrogance [of] folks all over the world who would possibly by no means have been to London.” He believes that belief helped to spice up the web enterprise in signet rings, which boomed throughout the pandemic, and “is a key driver for enterprise amongst youthful purchasers”.
Many British jewellers have discovered that royal patronage offers them a advertising edge over different European manufacturers, particularly in Bond Road. “Luxurious develops principally in nations the place there may be royal patronage,” says John Rigas, chair of Asprey.
In Bond Road, continental European rivals could be onerous pressed to discover a historical past that dates to 1735, because it does for earlier resident Garrard, or to 1781, for Asprey. The latter moved into its well-known former tackle at quantity 167 in 1840, serving to to ascertain Bond Road, constructed from the 1720s, because the thoroughfare of luxurious.
Asprey relocated to close by Bruton Road in 2021, and Rigas describes the corporate’s 243-year-old heritage, as “at mythological stage”. It’s the oldest luxurious home — it made silks, leather-based items and silverware earlier than including jewelry — on the earth. This lengthy heritage appeals to purchasers “in nations which have a historic connection [to the UK] together with [those in] the Commonwealth and US,” Rigas notes. He would now wish to crack the Chinese language market and hopes the opening of a store inside London’s new Peninsula lodge will likely be a great first step — 30 per cent of the lodge group’s occupancy is Asian. Nonetheless, the present VAT state of affairs, the place worldwide vacationers can’t reclaim the tax on their purchases, “has been extremely detrimental to luxurious”, he says.
Garrard, in the meantime — now elsewhere in Mayfair — stays one of many few impartial jewelry manufacturers on the earth. Its chief government, Joanne Milner, believes competitors is sweet for enterprise however says she has one trump card up her sleeve that her continental rivals lack: a big a part of Garrard’s historical past resides within the Jewel Home of the Tower of London.
The Tower, itself, receives 3mn guests annually. “It brings it dwelling that the Crown Jewels have been created by Garrard, which builds consciousness amongst those that might not have recognized”, she factors out — regardless of Garrard not being the official Crown Jeweller.
In recent times, Garrard has leveraged that historical past in a partnership with Historic Royal Palaces, supporting exhibitions at Kensington Palace and the Jewel Home. Garrard’s work was additionally on present at King Charles’ coronation final yr, within the type of the Crown Jewels, the Princess of Wales’s engagement ring (beforehand Diana, Princess of Wales’s), and Princess Beatrice’s jewelry from Garrard’s new Blaze assortment. “It’s prefer it was my greatest day ever,” says Milner.
A model’s historical past and longevity make investments confidence, safety, and belief within the high quality of their beneficial creations — and Milner believes heritage stays vital to shoppers right now, if no more so. “I discover different manufacturers beginning to put collectively the story of their model, and advertising it in a means by no means carried out earlier than — and that makes me assume that [heritage] has a price to them.”
In the course of the pandemic, it definitely inspired the most important progress in home clientele for Garrard. It appeared to be notably appreciated by the jeweller’s US and Center Japanese purchasers, and in China, “an space of the world that basically values the heritage,” Milner notes. And, in fact, as a valued shopper, there may be at all times the potential for an invite to the Jewel Home.
