Craftsmanship

Step inside the jewellery atelier of TVRRINI.

Our founder, Bibi, formed her jewellery-making skills while at university in East London, where techniques involved a high level of craftsmanship, and attention to detail was imperative. Today, we ensure these valuable methods are preserved. 

Brush pen illustration of a brooch concept. 

Drawing and rendering

Design rendering is an important communication medium between the designer, jeweller and client, as this helps to minimise confusion about proportions, materials, and actual size of finished jewellery.

Depending on the style and intricacy of a design, there are two methods of rendering our team chooses. We usually paint with watercolour and gouache on paper. Sometimes, we use digital drawing tools, particularly for very complex designs that may need multiple revisions. Computer-aided design is a challenge to hand-painting, but we hope the tradition will not be lost to time.

Pear-cut orange sapphire.

Selecting gemstones

We buy them from reputable gem and pearl suppliers who will cater to our requests. This includes having a good relationship with direct contacts to pearl farms. From effervescent shades to gentle tones, every kind of gemstone is a different opportunity to express our concepts, and we take our sourcing seriously. On occasion, we incorporate carved and custom-shaped stones to further distinguish our designs. 

Mounts of earrings from the Lava Collection in the making, sculpted in green wax.

Wax carving

To bring design concepts into three-dimensional form, wax is a common material that jewellers use due to its pliable and forgiving nature. The wax model can start as a block that is then subtracted by carving away the surface, or built on successive layers through gentle heat, and both techniques may be involved depending on the design.

If a design will be "organic-looking", we prefer carving it from wax without any rendering prior. By doing this, the model sculpture often turns out more intuitively than visualising it as a traditional watercolour illustration. Throughout the wax carving process, we refine the model until the shape and volume are suitable before casting in metal. 

18k yellow gold free-form ring casts on a jeweller's bench before clean-up.

Casting the metal

We use the lost-wax casting process to create all jewellery designs. After creating the wax model, it is cast into metal, allowing for fine details to be captured and resulting in a unique piece. To maintain our high level of quality, we then polish and finish each piece by hand.

To polish jewellery effectively, artisans need a variety of tools used with precision.

Polishing

Once cast into metal, we finish the piece by hand in our workshop. We use polishing tools in different grades of roughness, which cleans up grime and uneven surfaces in increments. This step prepares the piece for setting, because we have to be careful not to damage the stones after they are mounted.  

Setting

Stone setting demands high precision. There is often little room for error, so we actively make sure the mount can neatly and securely hold any stones that are part of the final design. 

Hallmarking

Our team makes sure each jewellery item is ready for presentation before sending it to the London Assay Office, who will then verify the purity of the metal and place the TVRRINI maker’s mark with a laser hallmark.