A long gold-coloured ring shaped like an African face mask, a white leather choker painted with black and blue scrolls and flowers on it – memories of my first exposure to unusual handmade jewellery in UK, in the early ‘70s. These were presents sent back by my brother who was then studying in London. Some years later I went off to Bristol, England, myself, for an undergraduate degree. I stayed three years, then after a year back at home, returned to Manchester, where I spent another two years for a postgraduate degree.  

Looking back now, I see that this period in Britain subtly and subconsciously helped shape my own subsequent approach to jewellery and jewellery making through Manik.  It wasn’t that I spent a lot of time exploring unique handmade jewellery in UK, although I loved browsing in craft markets, vintage/antique shops, but could not afford to shop much on my student allowance. It was more the fact that immersion in a culturally layered, artistically open environment stimulated an awareness to different forms of individual expression, creativity and yes, unconventional beauty. I recall visits to Stratford-on-Avon, watching Henry V there, to various performances at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, museums, flea markets and art galleries while studying in Bristol. A trip to Cornwall was particularly memorable for exploring artisan jewellery in UK. I ended up with a beautiful ring of a long, deep red polished stone from a local artisan jeweller – I wish I still have that ring, so timeless and striking it was! Let it also be mentioned that I was studying Sociology, a subject that encourages openness to different ways of seeing and understanding social reality, identity and meaning.  

In Manchester, I became particularly drawn to the theatre, watching many a play at the Royal Exchange Theatre, as well as independent and arthouse foreign movies at The Aaben – The Enigma of Kasper Hauser remains one of my most memorable movies to dat!. This was also the period when I started reading a great deal of science fiction whose unconventional worlds further reinforced receptiveness to different ways of seeing. 

All these were skeins of influence that gradually helped shape my aesthetic sensibility and ways of seeing over time, encouraging a greater sense of ease with individuality, subtle experimentation and forms of beauty that do not always conform to prevailing trends. Post ’81, when I returned home for good, I have continued to make trips back to England, and artisan jewellery in UK continues to interest me – there were earlier visits to Petticoat Lane, Gray’s, more recently, Old Spitalfields. And some years back, I did really well at the St James Church craft market, scoring some beautiful vintage Bohemian glass crystals!  

Some four decades laterand a multitude of lived experiences later, I now run Manik, online. I had started collecting beads gemstone, artisan and vintage wherever I travelled, since the early ‘90s, and making necklaces, selling some in boutiques.I looked at my vast collection of beads duringCovid lockdown andthought that I should really do something with them, being also on the brink of retirement from an academic career. With the support and encouragement of my niece and other family members, we worked towards a launch, which happened in May 2026. I design andmake up all my necklaces which are all one of a kind. If you are reading this, youcansee what my work is like from the necklaces in the shop.And by the way, the necklace Earthbound in the photo accompanyingthis article was partly inspired by, and a reminder of,my first fall walk in the woods in Bristol many, many years ago, when the leaves had changed colours to a medley of browns and reds, and the forest floor was enchantingly carpeted in the colours too…For me, Earthbound conveys the feeling of fall, a time of transition and change…

It wasn’t until sometime earlier this year (’26) that I started ‘analysing’ my necklaces and was excited to come up with a soft taxonomy, of five styles families into which my necklaces may be slotted. These style families are the Contemporary Sculpturals (see Topography in the shop), the Refined Classics (see Renewal, Earthbound in the photo here), the Bold Expressions (Contrast and Audacious in Pink, for examples of), the Heritage-inspired (Blessings in shop), and the Curated Casuals (Stars Galore, Vivid in shop). This is a soft taxonomy as some necklaces are predominantly in one family, but may also be ‘borderline’ another, while others may be ‘hybrids’ (if interested, please read more about our style families in another blog post here).  

It has been a gradual process of ‘self-awareness’ when it comes to knowing ‘who we are’. With the identification of our style families, it has felt like theory is catching up with practice. Beyond being slow jewellery, we are also niche and boutique, and design-centric.  

Quality unique handmade jewellery in UK also bucks trends, I feel; similarly, the cultural trait of understatement is also embedded in the character of artisan jewellery in UK.  Both elements resonate with me, and can be observed in our necklace designs… I don’t design according to trends, and some of my necklaces are intentionally restrained in their appeal, favouring character, mood and individuality over conventional visual impact. 

The necklace called Painterly (photos in shop) for example, was composed in muted shades of grey using Picasso jasper, labradorite, agate and bright silver elements. Its appeal was intentionally atmospheric than immediately appealing, and I knew it might not resonate broadly, though I love it myself, and consider it a ‘breakthrough’ design. It recently found its way to a young woman who seemed drawn to its quiet character. Moments like these remind me that individuality in jewellery often speaks most deeply to those who value subtlety over obviousness. 

 

Thereceptivenessto less conventional beauty that Iencounteredthrough art, theatre, films, craftmarketsandunusual handmade jewellery in UKcreative culture hasremainedwith me over the years. Looking back, I realise that my years in Britain shaped far more than my academic life. They gradually and quietly influenced my aesthetic sensibilities as well, encouraging anorientationto exploration, to asking “why not”, to seeing jewellery not just as adornment but as individual expression, tobeing drawn tocharacterand atmosphere in my designs, to restraint and curation, rather than overt statement or excess. That sensibility continues to inform the one-of-a-kind necklaces I create for Manik today.