Hamilton & Inches is Scotland’s luxury jewellery house with an iconic Georgian showroom in the heart of Edinburgh which brings the world’s most aspirational brands to life.
The award winning 150 year old workshop is testament to the craft heritage of the company and the talented team of masters and their apprentices that design, shape, craft and care for the collection do so with unrivalled personality and pride.
Get to know a few of the people that make up this talented team.
Anita Fodor
A Goldsmith at Hamilton & Inches, making and repairing jewellery in the workshops at 87 George Street, Edinburgh. From a very young age Anita started making jewellery. As a girl she would work with beads and thread and go with her dad to the local markets and festivals in Hungary with her own little jewellery stand.
Anita studied at jewellery college in Hungary before working in a jewellery workshop for Victor Azzopardi in Malta. Four and a half years ago she moved to Scotland, and has been at Hamilton & Inches for just over a year.
“I wanted to work for Hamilton & Inches because repairing jewellery is one thing, but to be a real jeweller, making jewellery is how you learn and grow. I was extremely happy to get the job here. Everybody in the industry compares themselves to Hamilton & Inches, and I have so much opportunity to progress professionally. It also has the most beautiful showroom in Scotland. Since I’ve been here I’ve learned so much. Chay (the Master Jeweller at Hamilton & Inches) just sees something and he can make it because of his experience. I still have to ask about the first steps. I look at a drawing and Chay explains to me how to start to make. That experience only comes from years of making. This is the kind of job where you never stop learning until you stop working.”
“I love the start and the finish of a job. When I come to the end of making a piece of jewellery, I look back at the sheets of metal and wire and see what it has become. I love holding the finished product, I always take pictures of it and I’m always very proud. I love to hear what the customer thinks of the finished piece, and the fact that they will wear it throughout their life.”
“As jewellers we are involved in the design, repair and making of jewellery. For our 150th anniversary, for example, I worked with Chay to handcraft our Lily II Collection of sterling silver jewellery, which was designed in-house. The Lily II Collection consists of a collar, two pendants, a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a ring. There are always new designs being created here. I had some ideas for designs with certain gemstones and Head of Jewellery Debbie McKernan purchased gemstones for me to make what I wanted with them for Hamilton & Inches, which I think is just amazing. The opportunities are endless.”
Paul Kirkos
Apprentice Silversmith and Chaser at Hamilton & Inches in the fifth year of his apprenticeship. Paul’s father, Panos Kirkos, trained in Greece and has been Master Silversmith and Chaser at the jewellery house for almost 30 years.
Given his father’s position, Paul wanted to explore his artistic skills independently initially by studying to be an electrical engineer, only to realise that he hated it. One night his father brought home some copper, cleared a bench in the family shed, and encouraged Paul to show his natural talent. Paul then applied for an apprenticeship at Hamilton & Inches and the first three years of Paul’s apprenticeship were supported by Quest (The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust), which funds the education of talented and aspiring craftspeople.
“My connection to Hamilton & Inches started over 20 years ago because I came here as a kid and ran around the place every Friday after school. I never thought of it as intimidating until now that I’m responsible for the work of this great company. We’re a worldwide, prestigious and independent family-based company. The training, knowledge and standard of service of all the craftspeople and the showroom experts is exceptional. It’s a very unique experience for customers.”
“As a silversmith I work on all the silverware coming through the workshops, as well as Highland Dress, and I’m specialising in chasing. I’m also starting a 3D sculpture workshop course to evolve my skills. An ash beaker I created for the charity It’s Good 2 Give sits in the National Museum of Scotland, and earlier this year I won Junior Gold in the Chasers section of the Goldsmiths Craft and Design Awards for my Andy Scott chased bowl with engraved horses. It’s considered to be the Oscars of the jewellery industry, so it was overwhelming and I was incredibly proud.”
“The biggest challenge as a silversmith is to use your mind’s eye in the work. I’m quite linear in my thinking, so I’ve been taught to think outside the box. The most inspirational thing I’ve seen are the photographs of a silver column candlestick Hamilton & Inches made from 1896, which is a metre high and the individual tubing is real and apparently one of the hardest things ever to make. You have to be eager to learn and determined to work here, you can’t hide in the background of the workshops. Everybody has to collaborate. We only take on work that we can guarantee can reach the heights of perfection, and we all play our part in that.”
“I’m seventh generation silversmith in my family, which feels like a bit of a weight on my shoulders. The art of silversmithing is a Greek art, and my family come from the city of Ioannina, called the land of silversmiths. I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to replace my dad, but I’ll give it a good shot. It’s an extremely daunting task. My dad has been chasing for 40 years and he says he never stops learning. People’s imaginations are always going to create new things and new challenges. It’s a continuous learning curve.”
George Douglas
George is the most recent Apprentice Silversmith at Hamilton & Inches, joining the programme just over two years ago. George was a pupil at George Heriot’s in Edinburgh when he undertook work experience at the jewellery house, which encouraged him to sign up for night school and in turn apply for the Hamilton & Inches apprenticeship. Two weeks after finishing school he started working at Scotland’s luxury jewellery house.
“I’ve was alway quite crafty and creative with my hands as a kid. When I was in craft and design at school, I realised that I was capable of handling myself in that field. At Hamilton & Inches, all the work that I do is practical and hands on. When it comes to creating stock work for the showroom you need patience to be able to focus and produce to the company’s 150 year old standards. Sometimes I get to work on more complicated pieces in collaboration with others.”
“When I was still in school we had people come in to talk to us about fire safety, living on your own etc and I was the only person going into an apprenticeship. Silversmith is maybe an old-fashioned title to some people, but this is the Royal Warrant holder for silversmithing and everything is here is handcrafted professionally, so tradition is important. I knew next to nothing about the industry before I came here. Most people coming out of art schools set up their own workshop as an individual, so Hamilton & INches really is one of the last workshops of its kind where young people can come in and learn the best of British craft within a team of experts. I remember going down to see some casters in London and they were just hidden away in a block of flats, so this is a unique opportunity. ”
“I really enjoy it when we regularly meet the clients of Hamilton & Inches, either when they come up from the showroom to see us in the three floors of workshops, or sometimes we put on displays of craftsmanship in the showroom. It makes you feel good, the compliments are lovely and you hear directly from people what the pieces mean to them. Once I was sitting at a bench towards the back of the showroom and there was a particular older man who came over to see me to tell me how proud he was that young people were taking part in learning the craft and the admiration he had for someone my age becoming a silversmith.”
“The workshops are busy, so at lunchtimes or tea breaks I try to develop my skills such as setting stones, and working on pieces from my own inspiration to try to improve. What my future looks like depends on what the workshop needs me to work on. Far into the future, my hope is that I’ll learn every skill I can so that I can work on larger pieces, starting with coasters and quaichs, things that take a long time to build and stay with people for a lifetime.“
