Frome, Somerset
One bench, one pair of hands
No staff, no outworkers, no casting house finishing pieces that arrive in a box. That is the whole business model, and it is why the lead time is what it is.
The maker
I'm Nell Ashworth.
I spent three years at a repairer's bench in Bristol before I made anything of my own — sizing rings, replacing claws, fishing settings out of a bin of other people's mistakes. It is the least glamorous training there is and I would not swap it, because it means I am better at fixing my own errors than at pretending I do not make any.
Petal & Pearl started in 2019 on the kitchen table and moved into a shared studio in Frome, Somerset in 2022. It is one person. When you email, I read it. When something is late, it is late because of me, and you will hear that rather than a story about couriers.
I work in sterling silver, freshwater pearl and semi-precious stones, and in 9ct or 18ct gold when a piece needs to outlive everyone in the room. I do not cast, so everything is fabricated — cut, bent, soldered and filed from sheet and wire. That is slower, which is most of where the three weeks goes.
Two things that matter more than they sound. I am not a shop and there is no walk-in address on this site, because there is nowhere for you to walk in to. And I am not cheap for what this is — a similar-looking ring is £28 online, made a thousand at a time, and if that is the right purchase then it genuinely is the right purchase.
@petalandpearl.studio — mostly the bench, occasionally the dog.
Yes, gladly
What she takes on
- Engagement and wedding rings, in silver or in gold.
- Remodelling — inherited stones taken out of something unwearable and set into something you will actually wear.
- Name and word pieces, pierced by hand from sheet rather than cast.
- Bezel-set cabochons and simple claw settings for stones up to about 10mm.
- Resizing and repairing anything that came out of this studio, for as long as I am working.
Honestly, no
What she does not
- Watch repair. I have never done it and I am not going to learn on yours.
- Broken chain repair. It is fiddly, low-value work and the repairer on Catherine Hill does it better and cheaper than I would.
- Plating, cubic zirconia or resin. Not a judgement — just not what this bench is set up for.
- Setting an opal or a tanzanite into a ring you plan to wear every day. I will make you the ring; I will tell you the stone will chip.
- Copying another maker’s design. Bring me a photograph as a starting point and I will draw you something adjacent, not identical.
- Anything needed in under two weeks, unless something similar is already half-made. 21 days is the honest number.
The practical bits
How this studio actually operates
There is no shop
No address is published on this site because there is nowhere to walk into. Visits happen by appointment and the address goes in the confirmation email.
Everything is posted
Tracked and signed for, included in the price, UK only. Overseas is possible but she will quote it separately — insurance on jewellery is where the cost is.
Hallmarking
Sterling over 7.78g must legally be hallmarked. She sends everything to the Birmingham Assay Office, including the pieces that fall under the threshold, which adds about four days to a commission and is built into the 21.