Diamond expert says Brexit should cause BOOST for UK if government act NOW

Speaking to Express.co.uk, 77 Diamonds founder Tobias Kormind said while he was not pro-Brexit, it should still be seen as a big opportunity for the UK to reclaim its title as a world leader in the jewellery world.

Speaking about the loss of jewellery craftsmanship in the UK, Tobias said: “Over 90 per cent of the jewellery that is purchased in the UK is not made in the UK. There was huge manufacturing in Hatton Garden – it’s all gone, which is really sad.”

But the weakened pound could provide the edge now, and Tobias continued: “Jewellery craftsmanship has been a bit of a dying breed, so with sterling taking a hit, we’ve become a bit more competitive on the manufacturing front, so that’s really positive, and you’ve got these great apprenticeship programmes as well now.

“77 Diamonds have got three apprentices in the company that we are growing ourselves, homegrown talent, and at the high end, the highly value added skill level, I think a little bit of that has been clawed back, so we are definitely fighting the fight to retain good craftsmanship here in the UK. I think there is a wonderful tradition of jewellery manufacturing here.

“Paris has been seen as the centre for fine jewellery manufacturing and I think London’s maybe been second to that, and I actually think given where London is now on the luxury map and how aspirational it has become, there is a real opportunity for the UK to step up and make London a centre again for jewellery manufacturing.

“You think about the schools we have in the UK like the School of Jewellery and Central St Martins, there are some great institutions that are producing some amazing students and a lot of those people come here and see London as a centre.”

But this will not happen without the input of the British government, and Tobias lamented how slow they are to encourage the growth of skills and industry.

He said: “I wish sometimes the government was a bit like some of the other foreign governments like China where they just say ‘OK we are going to be the dominant player in this space’, and then they throw all the resources at it, they open up many more schools, they subsidise and fund and then – guess what – within ten years, they are leading.

“Our Western democracy doesn’t work like that, which is very unfortunate. So 77 Diamonds are trying to do our little bit, and I think there is a much bigger opportunity to make London the centre for that.

“I’m definitely not a Brexit fan – but the government needs to do a lot more than its doing now.

“There’s a few funds that have been set up with government help and support but this is a drop in the ocean compared to what other governments are doing, so I’d love to see that.

“There are a lot of people interested in jewellery, you have a lot of these design makers, and what they find is they try for a few years and there’s no support there’s no funding, and they give up. I think it’s just incredibly tough.”

This sentiment was shared by the Head Designer at 77 Diamonds, who studied at the School of Jewellery at Birmingham City University.

She added: “When I left university I was of the only people to not set up my own jewellery business, but it was because I knew if I wanted to make gold and diamond jewellery, no-way would I ever receive the funding that I would need to actually set up a company.

“So that’s why I’ve always wanted to work for a company, because the the risk of running your own business when you have none of the finance or back-up, or knowledge of how to do it is so high.”

Other countries have long since overtaken the UK for diamond making, but the heritage in the UK from brands such as Graff, Boodles, Asprey and Gerrard means we should be able to excel once again.

As Tobias pointed out “there is real history here…we are world leaders for marketing and fashion, so we could definitely do the same for the jewellery industry.”

To view the latest collection from 77Diamonds, click here.