Andrew Prince has had a passion for jewellery since he was a small child. At the age of three he swallowed one of his mother’s pearl earrings having found her jewel box hidden in the top of a cupboard.
His first piece was a ring made from copper wire which he gave to his Grandmother (it turned her finger green and gave her a rash.) and a necklace made from beads pulled off his mother’s wedding dress. (She was not amused.)
After leaving school at sixteen he worked in Bond Street for the Antiques Road Show expert Ian Harris. Under his guidance Andrew developed a taste for jewels that were valued for the quality of design and craftsmanship rather than for how much the stones in the piece were worth.
Andrew then joined the renowned contemporary jeweller Elizabeth Gage and worked with her on the design and production side and was able to handle stones and jewels from her private collection which were to have a great influence on him. His taste for fine costume jewellery started when he came across a late Victorian brooch that was in fact glass rather than emeralds and diamonds even though it was set in gold and silver.
Tired of seeing unimaginative, over priced and badly made costume jewellery, he decided to create a collection of superior quality - that of 'Andrew Prince Jewellery'. As interest in his work grew there came special commissions including pieces for Michael Jackson and Shirley Bassey.
In 2002 the Victoria and Albert museum commissioned a unique collection of jewels to accompany the”Tiaras, past and present” exhibition. He uses only the finest Swarovski crystal and Signity zirconia and each piece is finished to his exacting standards, making it a treasure in itself.
The pieces in the Andrew Prince Jewellery collection are made with the same eye for quality and detail as would be found in fine jewellery but without the concern and insurance costs that such pieces bring with them. “If it has to be locked up”, says Andrew “it is not a jewel, it’s a worry!” |
