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Joshua Hendren

Contributing writer for Style by SCMP, specialising in jewellery, watches and pop culture


Scotland is quietly becoming one of the most interesting places to find modern jewellery.
Its roots in jewellery design run deep, laid by the likes of pre-eminent silversmith Malcolm Appleby, as well as Dorothy Hogg and Jack Cunningham, who respectively led the jewellery departments at the Edinburgh College of Art and The Glasgow School of Art.
Now, that legacy is expanding its international reach.
“Scotland has always produced exceptional makers,” says Keira Wraae-Stewart, founder of Aetla, a fine jewellery gallery that opened in Edinburgh in 2020. “But I think what has changed is the confidence and visibility of the contemporary jewellery scene.”

Scottish jewellers, she says, are carving out their own niches and building followings abroad, aided by a network of galleries, schools and events in Scotland that has grown far more robust in recent years.
Among these she credits Elements Festival, an annual Edinburgh selling fair and exhibition last held in 2023, with raising the sector’s profile, and highlights Craft Scotland’s Harvest, a contemporary craft fair in the same city held for the first time in October 2025. She adds that the Scottish Gallery and a growing number of independent galleries and retailers are helping connect makers with collectors.
Aetla has been a part of that shift. “Since opening Aetla in 2020, we have seen first-hand just how much appetite there is for discovering contemporary jewellery,” says Stewart, who boosts her visibility with a year-round programme of exhibitions, residencies and a permanent collection.
Romany Starrs, a jeweller based in Glasgow, says Scotland’s growing status as a jewellery hub comes down to its international reputation. “Our rich history, cultural heritage and tradition of craftsmanship are recognised around the world.”

Alison Macleod is a jeweller specialising in bespoke engagement rings and wedding bands who works from a rural atelier in Dumfries and Galloway. She attributes Scotland’s sustained reputation to “an exceptional network of jewellery schools” alongside affordable studio spaces and what she calls “a real spirit of generosity and collaboration” among makers.
Drawing on architecture, landscape and more
For many of these designers, Scotland’s influence on their work is front and centre. Starrs, for example, nods to Glasgow’s club and creative culture of the 1990s.
“It was a community that celebrated self-expression, originality and style, qualities that continue to influence the way I approach jewellery design today,” she says.
Her earlier work drew on Glasgow’s architecture, exploring geometry and repetition through primary shapes. More recently, time spent around Loch Lomond, about 30km (19 miles) to the city’s northwest, has pulled her towards something softer, drawn from “the organic forms, movement of the loch and quiet beauty of the landscape”. That has led her to techniques like chasing and repoussé that let her shape metal in a more tactile way, work she describes as shaped by contrast between the urban and the natural.
Sarah Brown, a jeweller who works from the island of Islay off Scotland’s west coast, is inspired almost entirely by the landscape around her.
“Scotland has completely shaped my identity as a jeweller,” she says. “Growing up on an island on the west coast surrounded by nature, I developed my love for art, being drawn to artists that capture its essence.”


She went on to study at the Glasgow School of Art, where she fell in love with the art nouveau style of the “Glasgow Girls” – women artists in Glasgow at the turn of the 20th century – who became major influences on her early work.
Scotland’s ancient jewellery-making heritage, with its intricate patterns drawn from nature, has shaped her work from the start, she says, but it is the Scottish island of Islay that now dominates her practice.
“The rugged coastline surrounding Islay, with its vast and powerful waters, has always fascinated me and shaped my jewellery,” she says, describing how rock pools, foaming waves and the changing light over the water all feed into her pieces.
“Each piece becomes a collage of observations that aim to portray the boundless facets of my island home.”
‘Jewellery that could only have been imagined here’
The landscape surrounding Macleod, who lives inland, has a similar impact on her work. She draws on the hedgerows, woodlands and changing seasons around her, often starting a piece from “seed heads, leaf skeletons and tiny natural forms that might easily be overlooked”.
Living rurally, she says, “brings a slower pace of life, giving me the time to make thoughtfully and by hand, rather than rushing the creative process”.
She adds that Scotland has given her both her visual language and way of working. “The changing seasons, wild landscapes and slower rhythm of rural life encourage me to notice small details that find their way into my jewellery, while our strong tradition of making has instilled a respect for skill, honesty and creating pieces that are made to last for generations.”

Scotland is just as central to the work of Edinburgh-based luxury jeweller Hamilton & Inches, which is now marking its 160th anniversary.
“Rather than simply taking inspiration from Scotland, we strive to create jewellery that could only have been imagined and crafted here,” says Victoria Houghton, the brand’s chief executive.
The house became one of two jewellers in the world licensed to work with and sell Scottish gold in 2019. In 2023, it acquired what it describes as the largest known private collection of Scottish freshwater river pearls, material it now works with under licence from NatureScot, Scotland’s nature agency.
“That level of stewardship reflects a broader shift within luxury, where authenticity, scarcity and provenance have become as important as craftsmanship itself,” Houghton says.
“Rather than looking to emulate other luxury capitals, Scotland is carving out its own identity, one rooted in authenticity, heritage and a strong sense of place.”


It’s all about community
None of this, Stewart says, would matter as much if Scotland’s jewellery scene amounted to a scattering of individually talented makers working in isolation.
“I think it is a genuine community,” she says. “Although many jewellers work independently in their own studios, I have always found people in the Scottish jewellery scene to be incredibly generous with their time, knowledge and encouragement.”
That community, she adds, extends well beyond the makers themselves, taking in galleries, exhibitions, retailers and institutions such as the Edinburgh Assay Office. Its small scale, she believes, is actually part of its might.
“Scotland is a relatively small jewellery community, and I think that is one of its strengths,” she says. “From my experience, there is a real willingness to champion one another’s work and celebrate each other’s successes. There is always more that can be done, but it feels like there is a genuine desire to see the wider sector continue to grow.”

As evidence of how far the scene’s range has grown, Stewart names a current generation of makers building on the foundations laid by Appleby, Hogg and Cunningham, among them jewellers Ellis Mhairi Cameron and Ruth Leslie. She points to “the breadth of approaches and the confidence with which designers are developing their own distinct voices”.
Stewart is also careful to frame this less as a sudden arrival than a shift in recognition. “Scotland has always had the talent,” she says. “I think we are simply becoming much better at celebrating it.”
Brown, meanwhile, points to the steady flow of “new and innovative designers coming out of the art schools and establishing themselves within the UK and globally” as evidence that Scotland’s status as a growing centre for contemporary jewellery is no longer really in question.


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Why Scotland’s modern jewellery is becoming some of the most interesting you can find

Rings from Scottish fine jewellery gallery Aetla, which opened in Edinburgh in 2020 and promotes contemporary jewellery made by independent jewellers. Photo: Aetla

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A sculpt stack ring designed by Romany Starrs, a jeweller based in Glasgow. Photo: Romany Starrs

Sea foam agate earrings by jeweller Sarah Brown, inspired by the colours and textures of the Islay coastline. Photo: Sarah Brown

A wave ring by Scottish jeweller Sarah Brown. Photo: Sarah Brown

A one-of-a-kind cocktail ring crafted by designer Alison Macleod. Photo: Alison Macleod

Oval-cut diamond earrings from Hamilton & Inches’ Scottish Freshwater River Pearl collection. Photo: Hamilton & Inches

A model wears jewellery from Hamilton & Inches’ Scottish Freshwater River Pearl Collection. Photo: Hamilton & Inches

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Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Scotland is becoming a growing centre for contemporary luxury jewellery as designers draw on the country’s cultural and natural influences


Scotland is becoming a growing centre for contemporary luxury jewellery as designers draw on the country’s cultural and natural influences.


High Jewellery

Luxury brands

Fashion

Why Scotland’s modern jewellery is becoming some of the most interesting you can find

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Scotland is becoming a growing centre for contemporary luxury jewellery as designers draw on the country’s cultural and natural influences

Scotland is becoming a growing centre for contemporary luxury jewellery as designers draw on the country’s cultural and natural influences