History

There followed a further eighteen months with another local Sussex jeweller, making standard 9ct gold jewellery, but Andrew wanted to become involved in modern jewellery, so at the age of twenty he wrote to top jewellery designer John Donald, and secured a job in his London workshop, learning how to hand-make contemporary jewellery in 18ct gold, diamonds and coloured gemstones. Clients included many celebrities and members of the Royal family. After four years with John Donald, it was time to move on again, and Andrew secured a position in the workshop of Geoffrey Turk, who produced contemporary art-jewellery of his own, and also undertook commissions from many top West End jewellers.

During the following six years Andrew worked on a huge variety of jewellery costing from thousands, to ten thousands and even hundreds of thousands of pounds. The items he was making were all one-off pieces; each one effectively a prototype, throwing up problems and technical challenges that had to be overcome. This type of work stretches a craftsman’s abilities, and gives the confidence to tackle all sorts of design challenges.

After ten years in this sort of environment, and tired of commuting to London from his home on the South Coast, Andrew set up a shop and workshop near Worthing town centre, trading as Aurum. Now it was possible to walk to work!

In the 1980s the jewellery available from high-street retailers was very traditional and unadventurous, and Andrew realised that Worthing was not ready for his most progressive designs, whereas there were plenty of people looking for something just a little different to the norm.

This was a niche that Andrew filled, and has continued to occupy. The pieces Aurum keep in stock are unusual, but somehow also quite classic. Occasional commissions arise for more idiosyncratic and ostentatious jewellery allowing Andrew to stretch his creativity.

For the first 16 years of Aurum, Andrew worked alone in the workshop, but in 2001 Aurum moved to slightly larger premises, which meant room for more benches, and we now have three goldsmiths creating jewellery to commission and for our stock.

The workshop is still the heart of the business. At least 80% of Aurum’s business is made up of commissions, rather than sales from stock. When recruiting a new goldsmith the company takes a graduate with a degree in jewellery design, straight from university, and trains them in-house to produce jewellery in Andrew Leggett’s style.

Originally all jewellery produced by Andrew Leggett Ltd was retailed through Aurum designer-jewellers in Worthing, West Sussex and Andrew never considered selling his work elsewhere, but the popularity of Andrew Leggett’s signature style engagement ring known as the Flick © encouraged him to make this particular range available to other retailers. This is sold under the Andrew Leggett brand.

After more than 25 years in business, Andrew Leggett continues to create stylish contemporary jewellery using traditional goldsmithing techniques, and has recently embraced CAD technology in order to utilise the advantages of both age-old skills and cutting edge technology.