25 Years of Jewellery Making

How we celebrated

I have never been an extrovert, so I would have opted to let the 25 years in business quietly slip by. The people who work for me are the real stars of the business, and they had different ideas, so some celebratory activities were planned which included a workshop open day inviting people to come and share in the celebration with some fizz and cake. It was a great success and made me appreciate the amazing people I have around me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them as any success is really down to their brilliant work and commitment. 

Our Workshop Open Day, June 2026 

Where it all started

If you asked me when I started this jewellery business from my bedroom if I would still be going after 25 years then, being a cocky 23 year old, I would have said no. I’ll have retired and be travelling the world a millionaire. You see, I was embarking on a commercial contemporary jewellery business selling to surf brands. Fate had other plans for me and being a retired millionaire with a large business requires more work and commitment than I am up for.   

"At one point I advertised for someone to share my workshop. Little did I know the person I chose would become (...) the love of my life and the mother of our beautiful daughter." - Justin

I started making a small range of jewellery from my bedroom in London and going out and selling to various surf, skate and alternative shops around the country. I then moved to Cornwall to live with my dad and slowly built the business which naturally moved away from surf shops and into galleries. I soon moved to a little net loft workshop as I got more orders. At one point I advertised for someone to share my workshop. Little did I know the person I chose would become such an important part of my life inspiring, advising, educating and eventually being the love of my life and the mother of our beautiful daughter. She is Poppy Treffry a hugely successful textile designer herself. Perhaps there was some magic in that little net loft. 

Poppy & Justin, 2013 - possibly our first 'selfie', 7 years after we got together

Best people around you

As time went on, and I couldn’t keep up with orders or bookkeeping or emails I would employee people to help. This made me very poor at the time, but the end goal was worth it.  We are a team of 9 now and the business is only what it is because of them. What happens here is about them and their experiences, so I think their memories are as valid as mine and thought we should share some. 

 

The ring collection, circa 2012

Issy, Office Team
"I first met Justin around 20 years ago when I visited a group exhibition in someone’s house in Penzance. I was about 16 and Justin had a small collection of wood rings on display - he must have still been in the early stages of the business. About a decade later I needed a part-time job for a couple of months between moving from London to Edinburgh and Justin kindly offered me some photoshop work to tide me over.

"I first met Justin around 20 years ago when I visited a group exhibition in someone’s house in Penzance." - Issy

After two years in Edinburgh and having heard that Justin had moved onto a new, bigger workshop in Heamoor, my partner and I moved home to renovate the very same fishing loft workshop. It’s from this moment in late 2016 that I started working for Justin permanently and have loved being part of the team ever since. We’re now in our amazing new workshop in Penzance, with so many more collections than when I first saw that small selection of wood rings over 20 years ago. It’s been incredible to be part of the team that’s helped the business to grow and evolve over the years - here’s to many more years!"

Chloe, Workshop Team
"I think I first met Justin dancing in the rain at Mazey Day in Penzance many years ago, now I've been working for him for over a decade, and danced with him at Mazey Day this last weekend too."

Taiman, Office Team
"When I first began working for Justin (fifteen years ago!) I started off in the workshop, making the wax models of the wood rings ready for casting. It was quite a satisfying thing - when it went right - a tank of molten wax and a push-nozzle to fill the silicone moulds; you had to time it perfectly or it would overflow and you'd end up with burnt and waxy fingers!
Lots of my jewellery making experiences tend to involve burnt fingers, now that I think about it. Polishing the rings heats the metal and that suddenly gets hot fast too. So intentionally (to save my fingertips) or unintentionally, I ended up more and more in the office (at the time, up a set of steep, salvaged boat-stairs in a fish loft).
A jewellery office is an interesting place to be, full of sketchbooks of designs, trays of golden rings, and - my favourite - gemstones. I've always loved gemstones, but I distinctly remember that one of the first times I was handling them, I dropped a small blue sapphire between the keys of my keyboard whilst on the phone with a wholesaler and nearly had hysterics.

"Lots of my jewellery making experiences tend to involve burnt fingers, now that I think about it. Polishing the rings heats the metal and that suddenly gets hot fast too." - Taiman

Luckily I eventually got the sapphire out and am now a certified gemmologist, having become far more adept with my tweezers since! 
One of the first things I learned in the office was how to photograph the finished jewellery in all its glory, but once I started answering the phone and sending emails I realised I loved talking to our customers.
Over the years and as the business grew, lots of elements of my job became too much for one person and now there are three people working alongside me to do it all. We are lucky enough here to have a choice in the shape our roles take, but one part of mine that I never let go of was working directly with our customers and their commissions. It was (and is) something that I immediately loved, and have always kept as the forerunner of my work.
There is something very special about grasping the inkling of an idea and working to translate it into something that grows from a concept, into a rough piece of metal, into something more recognisable, until finally, it emerges as a beautiful finished piece of jewellery that holds so much meaning. 
From gathering and staggering in with a massive bucket of sand from Newlyn green to do our first ever in house sandcasting (we eventually worked out we didn't need that much!), to selecting stones from dazzling arrays of sapphires for our collections, throughout my time here with Justin it's been a genuine pleasure to share in a small part of people's stories, and the reasons and sentiment behind each commission I've helped with.
And, my sensitive fingertips finally came in handy - for checking that each piece of our finished jewellery is silky smooth and soft to touch before you receive it."

"There is something very special about grasping the inkling of an idea and working to translate it into (...) a beautiful finished piece of jewellery that holds so much meaning." - Taiman

Sophie, Workshop Team
"I had only been a team member at JD for four weeks before my birthday rolled around. The team organised a lunchtime meal, baked me a cake and gifted me vouchers for The Planted House. I was very touched that in such a short amount of time one of my interests had been noted (plants) and that the team had organised this for me. After 6 years, I am now aware that birthday lunches are a famous JD past time but to have been considered in such a way at the very start of my JD journey was deeply meaningful to me."

Birthday lunches are a big deal around here

Jamila, Office and Workshop Team
"It sounds corny, but I feel so lucky to work for Justin. I started as a 21 year old, pretty clueless about jewellery and incredibly surprised to have landed a job making wood rings! Over the last 12 years, my role has evolved with my interests, I get to do a bit of all sorts, from designing and making jewellery to customer appointments and marketing. It’s a really special place to work, alongside some of my best mates and in such a creative space.
I get to work on some pretty crazy commissions. Like the chap who decided he’d like to wear his investment gold instead of keeping it in a safe. There was over 100g of 22ct sovereigns, and he wanted the lot in one chunky sculptural ring. I don’t know if I’ll ever melt that much gold in one go again! 
The really sentimental ones stand out too. I once took apart a very old, very pretty ring - so much so that I double checked with the customer that she really wanted to have it remodelled. She explained how it had been passed down through the women in her family, how she’d had it sitting in a box as it didn’t fit, it also really wasn’t to her taste, although it meant so much to her. Reassured, I took it apart and cast the gold into a textural band and set all the tiny diamond chips within the texture - it may well have been our first scatter ring. It couldn’t have been further from the original. And she absolutely loved it. She had always been the dark sheep of the family, and now she had a ring that really felt hers while carrying the heritage of the women who wore it before her.

"She had always been the dark sheep of the family, and now she had a ring that really felt hers while carrying the heritage of the women who wore it before her." - Jamila

It was a penny drop moment for me. Realising just how much jewellery means to people. And the part we play in that feels kind of magic. 
Now I have some very special pieces of my own that hold similar significance, it’s amazing to think they’ll be around long after I’m gone - until another jeweller melts them into something else!"

A commission made from investment sovereigns 

Erin, Office Team
"January 18th, 2024 marked the only snow day in my now five years of being a part-time member of the team at Justin Duance. I remember it vividly, having arrived at work in the small hours of the morning, just as the flakes began to flurry. A spectacular pearlescent sunrise greeted the day and a neon sunset laid it to rest, with me as witness while opening & closing our rural Trengwainton workshop. The fledgling new year felt sparkly and serene as the snow washed our countryside, my colleagues tripping in with the dawn and bearing back out into the dusk."

"I remember it vividly, having arrived at work in the small hours of the morning, just as the flakes began to flurry." - Erin

Erin's photo from that snowy morning in 2024

Sue, Office Team
"Well, I’m the newbie, having only been here for just over 4 years. My first memory was of being interviewed on Justin’s birthday, certainly not the way I’d choose to spend my birthday! I love the comradeship, we have lunch together, celebrate birthdays, and the team was there for me through my annus horribilis when the rest of my world fell apart. I love the people and the values that they show through the pieces we produce and the approach they show to our work.
The last couple of Christmases have had their special memories too: After our Christmas meal one year we all went to look at our yet to be renovated new workshop. It had been quietly decorated with fabric bunting and fairy lights by Jamila and Chloe, and we spent the rest of the evening playing on an old foosball table they had rescued from a pub car park.

"...we spent the rest of the evening playing on an old foosball table they had rescued from a pub car park." - Sue

Last year we had a takeaway in that same new workshop, after we’d moved in, and excitedly opening the walnuts that Taiman had very carefully prised apart and glued back together with tiny gifts inside. Here’s to many more lunches and Christmas’s together."

Christmas at the new workshop - before the renovations!

Into the future

It’s been a brilliant 25 years and those memories make up Justin Duance Jewellery. Cheers to all of you and let’s see where the next 25 years takes us.

Dreaming up designs