North Yorkshire’s Louise Dwyer makes jewellery with a personal touch MAXINE GORDON reports

IT’S quite exciting, the thought of working with a jeweller to design a special piece that’s just for you. I find myself wondering how it’s all going to turn out as I drive from York across the edge of the moors to Helmsley.

Louise Dwyer runs Saltbox gallery in the pretty market town’s Castlegate, along with husband Matthew, an artist blacksmith.

She has been a jeweller for 20 years and sells a selection of her work in the gallery, but also offers a commissioning service, where she makes pieces to order, which brings us neatly back to the task at hand. Louise makes rings, necklaces and earrings.

On this occasion, I want her to make me a pair of earrings and to help things along I have brought to the consultation a selection of my favourite pieces, so she can see what sort of styles I wear.

“This is useful,” says Louise. “So I can get an idea of the shapes and colours and weight of the earrings you like.”

Looking at my collection, a trend I hadn’t noticed before starts to emerge. My earrings tend to be quite small, compact pieces, in a mix of gold and silver, with the odd spot of colour, and usually with a piece of textured metal.

Louise wonders if I want something for every day or a special occasion.

“Everyday,” I decide. “I will want to show them off, after all.”

Next, she asks what colour I would like for the stone. Flummoxed, my mind goes blank. Then I remember particularly liking a friend’s jade earrings. Colour settled, next we have to choose a shape – agreeing on a long oval rather than a pear shape or circle.

Do I want a single oval, or multiple pieces of different lengths, which would create movement?

My hunch is to keep it simple, so just a single oval, please. Louise tells me it will be in textured silver, reflecting her trademark design.

The last decision concerns the type of fixing that will attach the finished result to my ear. We agree on a fixed stud rather than an articulated fitting, or a French hoop, both of which would add movement to the earring. I prefer something a bit more rigid.

I was surprised how quickly our design took shape. I left the gallery with Louise telling me she would email some sketches later that week.

A few days later, I am emailed three separate designs. The second one closest resembles the earrings we dreamed up in our consultation, so I chose those.

Commissions take at least four weeks, and so a month later I return to Helmsley to see the finished results.

Even at this stage, Louise can tweak the piece. I love everything about the earrings, from the solid silver ball stud to the intricately textured silver oval which resembles tree bark or leaves. The single ball of colour attached beneath the oval is the exact shade of green I had hoped for – and a perfect match for my favourite scarf.

They are finished with a tiny silver ball, but at the last moment, Louise decides it would look better in gold. The earrings go back to the workshop and she has them delivered to me in York two days later.

I’ve been wearing them ever since.

Fact file

Louise Dwyer, jeweller, Saltbox Gallery and Workshop, 2 Castlegate, Helmsley, York, YO62 5AB. Tel: 01439 770881 or email: louise@saltboxgallery.co.uk

Maxine’s earrings cost £145. Bespoke rings range in price, but expect to pay about £600 for an 18-carat diamond ring in yellow gold. Appointments are essential; please contact Louise to find out more.

Ready-to-wear pieces by Louise and other jewellers as well as artworks are available in the gallery and also via the new online shop, which has lots of ideas for Christmas gifts. Browse online at saltboxgallery.co.uk