Forget Me Not... This Easter

I'm off away now for a long Easter break, which I couldn't be more ready for, it's definitely time to relax!
But before I go I wanted to tell you about my beautiful new Flower rings...

  They are not only exclusive to our Dinny Hall Liberty concession this Easter but they are my pick for styling out Spring too!
Pictured above is the 'Primrose' version of the Flower ring, a twinkling multi facetted yellow beryl surrounded by five amethyst set in solid sterling silver, £365.

The Flower ring is also available in selected semi precious stones:  You can make a ‘Forget me Not’ with blue topaz or a ‘Daisy’ with white topaz.

Or why not be creative and commission another flower of your choice to celebrate Spring in your own style!
The Flower ring is available in any combination of these semi precious stones, price on application:

Amethyst - Pale purple
Blue topaz - Aqua blue
White topaz - Clear
Apatite - Turquoise
Rhodalite - Burgundy pink
Yellow beryl - Yellow

I wish you all a happy time in whatever you choose to do this weekend,
whether it be fun filled, peaceful or both!
Happy Easter all!

W11 en Francais

Over the years I have appeared in various publications focussing on the fact that I really have been selling my baubles in Notting Hill for along time. So Rachel has dug up a few press cuttings to show just for fun.
Much has changed since we first opened the shop in 1992, gone are all the junk shops and small independent boutiques, the post office, the newsagent, the garage and the pub next door where we watched the collapse of the Twin Towers in disbelief.

The transvestite no longer roller-skates by in hot pants led by a coiffure giant poodle and even the was cool celebs (like Hugh Grant and Robbie Williams) that used to hang out here seem to have gone.

It's still all very smart though and some of the new shops are full of very desirable things (202 next door has a fab new clothes emporium down stairs it's no longer Nicole Farhi by the way and I love Theory and Matches of course ) but over all we seem to be going French.

Don’t get me wrong, I love all things French, but I hope that these new people frequenting (a lot of Euro banker types) my patch here in W11 love Dinny Hall jewellery truly a Notting Hill brand with genuine credentials.

Festive Foraging

Festive foraging for Christmas display at Dinny Hall and an excuse to get out to the wilds of the countryside; my little dog Bo, more than enjoyed the walk too!  This year our shops have been decked with goodies from the forest and we have gone to great lengths, even as far as rowing out on the Norfolk Broads to collect Alder firs and such the like.

Prime pickings on the waterside.

These firs (you can just see them in my hand in the above picture) look perfect touched with gold leaf and displayed in our shops with branches of Yew and Ivy.

Oranges with cloves and hand made paper chains, with the burning aroma of Frankincense and Cedar all complimenting the jewellery. We're channeling a crafty, homely, vintage vibe for Christmas at Dinny Hall; comforting but luxe.

Liberty Love & Celebrating 25 Years...

This November Dinny Hall Ltd celebrates its 25 year Anniversary. (One could say I'm officially vintage!)

To celebrate this momentus occasion I have launched a limited edition range of the Alhambra collection which was my very first collection fresh out of Central Saint Martins.  I was lucky enough to catch the attention of the press and buyers alike, including the fabulous department store Liberty.



A selection of press coverage on the Alhambra collection, from our archives.

So we are delighted to be showcasing our limited edition vintage pieces at that most special and truly British department store, Liberty.  Where we have a little shop within its walls 25 years after it was first sold there.  Now that's an achievement.

I'll be showing old alongside new; the juxtaposition of my current designs together with my first collection, celebrating my journey through jewellery:  From catwalk extravagance to the understated elegance you have come to know and (hopefully) love from Dinny Hall.





18ct vermeil 3 tier Alhambra earrings

 

Sterling silver Alhambra rings set with Amethyst, smokey Quartz and Citrine.





The collection is limited to 10 editions of each piece and is available for special order from our Liberty concession now.  We also have 10-20% discount in our concession from 1st - 4th December so happy shopping!

Partying with make up artist par excellence Mary Greenwell

At Mary Greenwell's launch for her deliciously fruity and fabulous perfume, Plum, which took place at the Connaught's gloriously refurbished ballroom.  Weren't we the lucky ones sipping on jolly good Champagne and eating really good canapes provided by that famous kitchen of such a wonderful old English hotel.

Bumped into my dear friend Stephen Jones on the way in then on to mingle with many fashion fabulous people.
Chats with Penelope Tree (much to my ex fashion student and just 22 year old Press Assistant's awe) never the less a conversation about fashion icons ensued. Man talk with Venetia Scott, sharing chat and tartan attire with the lovely Amada Harlech (of Chanel no less).  And picture posing with my dear friend Selina Blow.

Selina is also the mother of one of my Goddaughters called Violet, (who I have blogged about before) and you will never guess what?  Little Violet is now a cover star and I can see it won't be long until she too is mingling with the fashion fabulous at the Connaught ballroom or some such equally glamorous place.

p.s You can buy Mary's gorgeous Plum fragrance exclusivley at House of Fraser.

The weekend is nearly here...

How about a little cocktail ring bling for the coming weekend?  Not all at once of course.

I know which one is my favourite... what's yours?

It's been a busy here at HQ, planning press day, new collections arriving and I've even moved house.
So grab your best ring and your favourite tipple and say chin chin!

Introducing Talitha...

I briefly touched on our new collection in a post last week.  But I really am so excited about the new Talitha Collection that I wanted to talk about the inspiration behind it; the iconic and fabulous Talitha Getty.

One of the 1960’s fashion icons Talitha Getty was the unofficial queen of Marrakech and boho luxe.

I wanted the Talitha Collection to embody her decadent, outrageously indulgent life style and the myth that surrounded her, yet of course still remaining consistent with the understated and simple elegance you have come to expect from the Dinny Hall brand.

When designing, I looked to Moroccan and Persian pattern from architecture and textiles.  The delicate collection plays with repeat motifs and tessellation; it is crafted in solid sterling silver and 18K gold vermeil.

 My lovely god daughter, Alice, modelling the Large Talitha Earring. 

A statement earring which we think is party perfect and holiday chic!  It is selling fast already, I better get myself a pair before they go!

John Lewis gets a fashion makeover!

Hey guess what, Dinny Hall is now stocked in a selection of John Lewis stores as well as John Lewis Direct their online shop!  Why John Lewis, you may ask??! Having always got my washing machines and all my tights there. (They really do the best tights). I can't think of a better place to sell my fashionable silver lines and the glamorous Pearly Queen collection too.  When asked the same question, as to why he was now working with John Lewis, the fantastic hat designer, Phillip Treacy said 'well why not!' to an inquisitive member of the fashion press.  And whilst chatting with him over cocktails he said, 'where he comes from John Lewis is actually very posh'!!
Also Dinny Hall is a predominately London based brand and to be in John Lewis is a great oppurtunity to showcase our collections to a greater UK audience.
So last night, we tottered on down to the launch of the new fashion floor at John Lewis Oxford Street and we have to say the store looks amazing. 

Our Glamorous Pearly Queen collection as seen in Vogue back in July.

We enjoyed cocktails and canapes upstairs in the Brasserie and mingled with faces old and new, friends and collegues.  It was great to meet the John Lewis team who we deal with on a daily basis and finally get to put names with faces, from the buying department girlies to the partners on the shop floor.

We then moved down to the jewellery hall along with the likes of Alex Monroe and Laura Bailey to meet and greet with the customers as part of Vogue's Fashions Night Out. 

The lovely Sarah, the John Lewis visual merchandiser, had given all the jewellery cabinents an Autumn Winter make over and we thought it looked beautiful.  You can admire her handiwork below along with a few snaps of me with the John Lewis team and fellow jewellery designer Alex Monroe.

Me and top jewellery sales staff member

Striking a pose, the John Lewis Buying Director, me, Alex Monroe and top jewellery sales staff member
Pictures taken by Helen Lees at John Lewis

Dinny Hall jewellery beautifully merchandised by Sarah, photos taken by Sarah also.

Ethical - to be or not be that is the question?

Just as we’ve seen the rise of things like fair trade coffee beans, so the new phrase we’re hearing a lot of at the moment is ethical jewellery. At Dinny Hall we certainly don’t buy blood diamonds or emeralds from cocaine barons, nor do we knowingly exploit anybody in the world but when it comes to ethics I’m not sure how easily one can apply the word to the jewellery industry (or any other industry for that matter). More often than not the word ‘ethical’ is used to describe jewellery as a marketing tool rather than to mean that some regulatory authority has approved the product to be ‘morally correct’ like The Soil Association does with organic food for example.

I do admire anyone who endeavours to buy gold or gemstones ‘ethically’ but to my mind it appears to be almost impossible to achieve. What if I double my carbon footprint by flying all over the world to secure ethically mined gold? How many small gold miners are aware that the cyanide that is pumped out as a by-product of gold mining pollutes the water their children bathe in, as well as damaging the local ecosystem? How can one ethically police such remote places and be entirely sure of the highest moral standards both environmentally and on a human level.

I am unconvinced and worry that when it comes to marketing jewellery as ethical it is more often than not just a fashionable bandwagon that’s been jumped onto.

On the subject of gemstones and ethics though I have an old friend called Guy Clutterbuck who, in his youth, reminded me of Indiana Jones, with his tales of riding out with Afghan horsemen to ancient lapis lazuli mines and carrying back rucksacks full of the raw material to the UK. I would have the lapis cut into onion dome shapes in Ipswich (no less) and then set into solid gold; I do so wish that I had kept one pair at least of those earrings. Several swimming pools later, yes whole swimming pools of lapis lazuli, and a few years on Guy now works partly in Zambia where he owns an aquamarine mine, and a chunk of his profits go back into the community to build schools, proper sanitation, help provide clean water. Here I can actually see a truly ethical transaction going on between an individual in the jewellery industry and the miners directly but I cannot vouch for the rucksacks of lapis lazuli or indeed the swimming pools of yester year.


There are of course many other examples of people in the jewellery industry who are genuinely working towards a more ethically sound business and we do our best at Dinny Hall to ensure that our gold and precious gemstones come from sources that we trust to be working toward fair trade globally and look forward to the day when there is an industry wide standard we can all sign up to so that we can all feel a little bit more comfortable that ethical claims have been checked.

Guy Clutterbuck with his friends in Zambia at the Kamakanga mine

Alice in Jewellery Land

I am lucky enough to have three God daughters; one called Alice and two adorable girls named Violet.

Today I want to talk about Alice, who is sixteen and the daughter of one of my best friends, Liz Fremantle. Alice's father is a charming Frenchman and she has a grandfather who had an affair with Vivien Leigh. She was only two when she first became aware of the Dinny Hall shop on Westbourne Grove. She was so tiny that she held herself by up little fingers clasping to a ledge below a showcase full of jewellery and just said ‘Pretty’. Over the years, so 'pretty' has she become that you will see her, in due course, modelling the jewellery for the second time on our website.

Alice was one of our poster girls for the launch of dh Bijou collection. But she has done a lot of growing and blossoming since then. Alice was born exactly two years before my son Lorcan on the very same day in February. She suffered from a serious illness beginning when she was only three months old. As she grew up, Alice overcame so many setbacks caused by this illness. She is both brave, beautiful, not to mention a bit of a songbird. Ooh and she doesn’t suffer fools gladly just like her mother. I am very proud of her.

Before asking her to model Dinny Hall styled by yours truly (me) and with the help of Rachel E (who I will introduce to you soon, dear readers), I asked Alice to style the jewellery on herself. So here is Alice wearing some silver jewellery of her own choice paired with a jacket from the Moschino ‘Love’ collection.

Alice wears it well don’t you think?

She means business

I plucked up the courage to do a speech at the Chamber of Commerce last week. Fifty or sixty people attended, mostly women, and I quite enjoyed summarizing my past as a woman out there in the big wide world running my own business.

So I talked about my first jewellery transaction (which I remain ashamed of to this day), I stole my mother's engagement ring and swapped it for a Barbie doll when I was four years old. I told of how I spotted a figurine brooch at a village jumble sale for a mere 4 pence which then turned out to be a valuable Cartier piece made from ebony, studded with rubies, diamonds and emeralds. It seems I've always had a keen eye for transactions, despite the inexcusable dodginess of that first one, and jewels. Somewhat of a magpie from day 1, really.

I regaled them with tales of my rebelliousness at Central St. Martin's, where, despite resisting the rules and regulations, my graduate collection was scooped up by Liberty. And to this day, I have a particular affinity with Liberty and a shop within it, 25 years down the line.

I recounted how I had funded my first workshop in Soho by waitressing at night. The space had once been Canaletto's but had also been a jeweller's studio for some hundred odd years prior to my stumbling upon it.

What happened next, readers, you know from a previous post. I went on to design catwalk jewellery and fly all over the world designing and living the life; I looked the part, went to the parties, talked the talk and danced the dance.

All of a sudden my jewellery is being sold in over 70 stores in America, hotly followed by Japan. Doing trunk shows here, partying there and somehow fitting in the time to design it all. But who is holding the purse strings?

I went on to discuss how I came down with a bump. The trials of being a woman in business with creative talent with entrepreneurial skills but no time left (literally) to financially direct the company. How accountants need to have people within their realms who can actually communicate with creative people (this is the key) and understand the workings of small businesses and how to grow them. This is what I really wanted to stress to my audience. Although I had a company savior come to my rescue (seemingly), I only ended up in litigation having misguidedly given away fifty percent of my company whilst not reading the small print. Again, it all comes down to communication, and also a rather slap dash attitude to anything that wasn't creative on my part.

I then discussed work, marriage, birth and separation. But I won't get into this here. Suffice it to say, these are concerns which all women in business may have to consider at some point.

That litigation case dragged on for some years. I'm pleased to have all that behind me now (and this is not a potted history of my career!). I feel lucky to be able to do what I do, I am free and not shackled by conformity or impenetrable glass ceilings. Unlike at the beginning of my career, where I thought of myself a creative person only and was adamant about that, today, I am as much a business woman as I am a designer. And to the detriment of my younger self, I'm proud to say it.

Fashion Week Is Coming!

There's no getting away with the fact that you are wishing your life away in the jewellery business, just like fashion, you have to always think at least six months ahead. But this notion is in my designer DNA to begin with, as I actually started my career twenty five years ago toeing the line between fashion and jewellery, designing catwalk jewellery for the designers of the day in both America and the UK, Ben de Lisi, Rifat Ozbek and Bruce Oldfield.

Just this morning, as I was having to think of designs for summer 2011 and then got all confused because I need to be thinking about Autumn/Winter 2010 as well, I found myself contemplating those days.

It used to be the case that we would have to stay up all night finishing off pieces for the catwalk. You know, boring thankless tasks like gluing, polishing, polishing, polishing. It brings to mind the time when I was busy doing just that when who should come up to my studio but David Bowie, my hero at that time. I remember being absolutely mortified that I had to meet him with polish all over my face. He had come up to not to see me of course, but my studio-mate, Tom Binns, who had been collaborating on a video with the legend. Then I'd party all night and start all over again.

Twenty five years later, the party's still not over, it just no longer goes on all night. Though the ornate, statement pieces of mine which walked the catwalk then would probably never be recognisable to you as the Dinny Hall you know today...

Directors and Dramas

Dinny Hall and girls in Vogue 1997

Ali (top right), Paola in-house photographer (bottom right) and me (gold jacket in the middle)

The extraordinary has at last happened: finally, after all these years, I, at long last, have moved out of the mezzanine level of my Notting Hill flagship which acts as bridge between shop and workshop, into my own little sanctuary of an office.

As you can imagine, packing up one's desk after years and years of long days spent labouring over designs or overseeing production or nosing into the affairs fo the shop, is something of a messy affair. Yet in the reshuffling of papers etc, I stumbled across some photographs of the Dinny Hall team in days gone by. Everyone looking so young and fresh, my son as a small child laughing and making jewellery at the work bench, a glimpse of a once favorite gold top now long lost--and it got me thinking nostalgically.

My son Lorcan aged 2 learning how to make jewellery

So I thought today I would begin introducing you to some of our wonderful team here at Dinny Hall. While you'll eventually meet them all over time, for now I'd like to focus on two specific individuals who are really at the core of the company, our two directors Ali and Teresa, without whose magic business touch, I would never have had the time to start this blog.

Let's start with Ali, because she has been with me since 1988. She came to me by way of master milliner Stephen Jones (OBE), where she was on work experience straight from college. And she has been with Dinny Hall Ltd ever since. Now a director, she is the cog of the clock that keeps our company ticking, never misses a thing. Her focus is a great antidote to my creative soul...which can sometimes lead to drama and distraction. She is also the proud owner of Sena, the fiesty daschund modelling alongside the beautiful Bo in our Christmas campaign.

Teresa joined the company at a crucial time just before the whole world seemed to tumble into financial chaos. A former investment banker with a real corporate background, Teresa seemed to be exactly what we needed to tidy up the rather lax way in which we normally looked after our financial a ffairs. A string of accountants and financial advisors who made little difference to my maverick ways--i.e. my attempts to micro-manage on my own all aspects of the company, from the business to the creative side. Let's just say, when Lehman's when down, we were so fortuitous to have a business mind as keen as Teresa's to guide us through.
So as I find my company on the eve of a milestone anniversary, I also find it, at long last, in a pair of two very different yet equally capable hands. This means, that the control-freak in me has finally been able to calm down a bit, let others shoulder some of the responsibility and refocus my own attentions on creativity.

Let the fun begin (again)!

Dinny Hall annual dinner some years ago! All pictured still part of the family
(left to right) Rachel (creative production), Paola (in house photographer), a glimpse of my teeth in long lost gold top, and my finger pointing at Ali's cleavage where something is lodged

Posh Rags

A still from the film "The White Ribbon" (2009)

Given the nature of my first few posts in this space, I am concerned, readers, that you may see me as fashion fickle. And I now wonder whether there is in fact any actual wisdom in these pearls I've been dropping into your laps. But I promise you that there is more running through my mind than bags and posh rags. I assure you I am now finished with my post-holiday shopping frenzy and will not impart any more retail-related nuggets to you, save for those pertaining to my own wonderful shops.

But just in case you were wondering, the last of my shopping spree was spent at a lovely little shop in Islington called Sefton where I purchased a D&G jacket so well cut that I swear I look size 0 in it. I then crossed London to go see the movie the Road with my soon-to-be fourteen year old son and ex-husband Billy at the Electric Cinema, quite the most comfortable cinema in London.

All three of us, having read the novel, were curious to see how such a bleak yet strangely poetic tale would come to life on the big screen. Great acting to my mind, but having seen even better direction and sublime cinematography recently in the movie the White Ribbon (Michael Haneke), the Road, alas, falls somewhat short. But nonetheless it still resonates and left me, exiting the cinema, in a rather thoughtful mood.

We then went for Chinese in Queensway and the whole evening, with the mood now shifted from the post-holiday exubrance to something slightly more somber, was exacerbated by being clamped by one of those nasty private companies--despite the fact that I had dutifully bought a ticket. Inadvertantly, this ticket had been blown upside down when I closed the door (you know the score) and I found myself having to pay the racketeers £200 in cold cash.

Having finally liberated my front right tire, I made my way home trying to put it out of my mind. On the road, I passed by that very same shop where this morning I had found the D&G size-0-wonder-working jacket, that had put me in such spritely spirits earlier in the day. And lying in the doorway of this posh boutique in the freezing cold was a homeless person, which immediately, if even just for that fleeting second, struck me in the most powerful way.

And then it made thoughts return that evening, which actually may recur to anyone with a conscience who has the luxury to work in a creative field. Sure, fashion cannot save lives, but if you think hard enough about it, perhaps it can. Just this week, Lady Gaga has said that fashion actually did save her life. And the uproar surrounding H&M's careless dumping of unsold garments whilst the homeless, like the man I saw, continue to sleep outside the shops in the cold, proves that fashion really can affect lives, in both a negative and a positive way.

So I got to thinking about how I, as a jewellery designer, fit in into this whole moral conundrum. And the conclusion I arrived to was this: jewellery can bring joy. And by spreading a little joy, we make the world a slightly better place. It's as simple as that.

Bye bye baubles...hello bags

Butters and the Balenciaga

First of all, apologies, dear readers, for starting my blog and then disappearing with the noughties. But you will understand the pressures of Christmas and all it entails. I'm back now and it's a new decade, so I have been thinking creatively about what great new things I can bring into the world.

One old thing I probably shouldn't bring out is my credit card, although it managed to jump out of my wallet today, thanks to a little Balenciaga purse found at Matches just around the corner from my Notting Hill shop. It's not that I'm an impulsive shopper, I'm actually the opposite, and after twenty-five years in the business this year (celebrations sure to come!) and a sale of my own on at the moment, I should know better than anyone about the dangers of markdown mania. I think for months and months about what it is I want and need to complete (what I consider to be) my perfect look, and then I go on the hunt. This, in my expert opinion, is the only way to shop, particularly where fine jewellery is concerned. This little black Balenciaga fitted my long-standing prescription for a small everyday purse to a t. Good thing that thanks to the faces of my holiday campaign, the lovely Bo and Sena with baubles, we had the most successful retail Christmas we've ever seen, especially with the runaway success enjoyed by our concession at Liberty.

So as Bo sulks in dismay at the fact that her fifteen minutes of fame are about to end (posters are coming down and she'll disappear from the website soon enough, the modelling business is sooooo fickle), her little Pomeranian friend Butters has stepped up to the plate (a bijoux dog for a bijoux bag) to enjoy the fruits of Bo’s labours.