Tools of the tade... Duffy Jewellery

"As a kid I was obsessed with comics and wanted to be an illustrator but then I spent ten years working with an antiques dealer and it changed my outlook. Whilst working in restoration and being around such precious objects, I was inspired," explains jewellery designer Duffy as he sits in the heart of his workshop in East London. Surrounded by the tools of his trade and with drawings scattered across the bench, his passion for the craftsmanship of fine jewellery is infectious. "I think I've always been drawn to the idea of someone having a skill to produce something, a craft. Today as modern technology plays such a huge part in so many things, I really like the idea that their are still a handful of people who can make something from start to finish with their own hands and it is wholly their's."

In a culture of mass production, Duffy Jewellery stands apart. Working with locally sourced materials, each handmade design evolves from doodle to finished treasure all in his Sunbury Worskshop unit. Unsurprisingly, his work bench is littered with all manner of tools. From the specialist to the customised, Duffy talks us through a few of his most used and much loved pieces of kit...

A close look at Duffy's workbench

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Spirit Lamp

"This Spirit lamp has a wick that burns using traditionally meths but I use clear lamp oil as it provides a better flame for melting wax and meeting wax carving tools."

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Three wax carving tools

"Each wax carving tool has been customised to create a more comfortable grip and shape of implement. One is an old dentist tool that has a new life dedicated to wax."

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Piercing Saw 

"This is used for cutting metal in various ways. As its name suggests it can pierce shapes. The blades can be changed and various size of blade used for different levels of intricacy."

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Rawhide Mallet

"The hammer head itself made from a strip of hide that has then been allowed to dry and harden but remains with enough give so as not to dent the metal when forming it."

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Victorian ring sizer 

"This must be the oldest and most sentimental tool in the collection as it was used by my great grandfather. A number of the rings are long lost and I don't tend to use it all that much but it's a beautiful object."

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Mandrel and Ring Size

"The mandrel is used for forming metal around (most commonly with the rawhide mallet) and the ring sizer is to check the size of a ring either whilst forming the metal or to check an existing rings measurement."

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Bench Peg  

"It might not look like a tool because it is part of the jewellery bench but the peg itself is where most work takes place. It allows the jeweller to hold material or jewellery securely whilst filing and sawing can take place. They take on differing shapes over the years as they are worn and filed and drilled on and usually the way in which a jeweller works will effect how it wares down." Duffy.

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