Our Values

Unfortunately, many objects are seen as disposable in our society. Every material we take from our planet and every process that is undertaken to transform it into an object has the potential to leave a scar on our environment. We believe that every object we make should be consciously designed towards being treasured and made to last for a lifetime and beyond, in order to try to minimise any negative environmental impact, Our core motto is “minimum materials with maximum meaning”;,

Unlike some larger companies, we are a small, independent company who is registered to pay our contributions of National Insurance and income tax in the UK, thereby, making our own, small contribution to support the infrastructure and welfare of our country and fellow citizens.

Our skilled craftspeople are fully qualified and also have disabilities. Many of our processes are undertaken by hand making methods. However, when we need to semi-automate some processes to be more disability inclusive, we do so. Some of these processes are time honoured, traditional methods (such as casting) and others will be undertaken with the most up to date technologies.

All of our pieces are fully compliant with UK Hallmarking regulations and are hallmarked within the UK where applicable under these regulations. Our (sterling silver) pieces that come under weight for UK Hallmarking regulations will be stamped with a 925 symbol. If you require a full UK Hallmark on one of these (under weight) designs, there will be an extra charge. There will also be extra time needed to create your order to allow for your piece to be sent to, Hallmarked and returned from a UK assay office.
See Hallmarking Regulations here and our Hallmarking options here.

Our pieces are all designed, made and/or engraved in our own UK workshop on the border of Norfolk and Suffolk.

We are proud to be a local business offering special pieces for special moments in life.

Sustainability

it is inevitable that any item created will leave some kind of mark on the environment, whether it be from the materials used or from the production processes.

However, at Norfolk and Suffolk Silver workshop, we do our best to minimise these affects.

All of our silver bullion is purchased from a reputable UK supplier and wherever possible, we use 100 per cent certified recycled materials to create our products.

We imbue our pieces with the innate value of precious metal, plus personal meaningful inscriptions. We hope that by offering personalisation, it will increase the meaning and emotion between the piece of jewellery and the wearer, with the aim of promoting longevity and reducing any thoughts of disposal in landfill.

For our test design pieces and our inspiration blog pieces, we either create these via digital drawings or use copper off-cuts left over from industrial processes. These are sent for recycling when we have collected enough pieces together.

All of our precious metal off-cuts (including filings and dust) from our making processes are either re-used within our workshop or sent to a refinery for recycling.

For items such as pendants, our neck chains are provided as an optional extra purchase, so that you as a customer have the choice as to whether you require a new chain or can utilise one that you may already own. We offer a free (recylced) presentation ribbon as an alternative.
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Polishing cloths are also an optional extra purchase – again, this is to avoid producing waste of anything that is not required.

We aim to keep our designs of a classic or sometimes historical style or aesthetic. This is a conscious decision with the hope that our designs will outlive any current fashion trends and therefore extend their longevity for our customers/wearers of our jewellery.

Most of our pieces are made to order or are created in very small batches (such as when Hallmarking is required). This helps to limit any wastage in unwanted stock and conserves production consumables and power usage.

All of our pieces are designed and made in the UK (not outsource to other countries) in order to support local employment and to reduce international shipping emissions.

Wherever possible, the tools used in our workshop are purchased from second hand sources when available.

All of our pieces are fully recyclable. Please contact us if you wish to recycle any of our products.

Our products are built to last, but in the unlikely event that a repair is needed, we offer a repair service for products that are made by our workshop only.

For postal orders, we utilise the postage company option that advertises the highest percentage of package deliveries by foot (currently Royal Mail).

We hope that you will treasure your piece of jewellery forever and pass it on to future generations. However, if you do decide that you no longer require your piece, or the engraving is no longer suitable, we offer a couple of options;

1). If the precious metal is thick enough (such as in our wedding rings) and you wish to change the engraving, we can either remove the engraving completely to leave a smooth finish, or remove and renew the engraving (there will be a fee for these services and removing the engraving will remove some of the thickness of your piece).

2) If you decide a piece is no longer suitable in any way, or it is not suitable for engraving removal, then you can return it to us to return to a bullion company for recycling and you will receive a small voucher towards a new piece from our collections.

Our products are designed, made and engraved locally in our own workshop where health and safety and environmental impact is given the highest importance and consideration.,

We offer advice on how to care for and clean your pieces in order to promote their longevity. Please see our care guides here.

All of our packaging is recycled and we use the minimum amount of packaging to protect our products, as we have found that many customers have gift boxes that they can re-use for gifting their pieces or have a jewellery box to keep their own new pieces safely, rather than purchasing new ones.

Finally, as it is unlikely that any process of producing objects can have zero environmental impact, we are open to new ideas on sustainability and are always reviewing our procedures and looking to improve. If you have any ideas that you feel we should consider, then please feel free to contact us.