Selecting a piece of jewellery is very personal, often done to mark a celebration or indicate an emotional bond. To have a piece of jewellery made uniquely for the person and the occasion is a rare and special treat.
David White has been making jewellery since he was 14 years old. Always interested in art and design, his skills were honed at University but long before that he thought he might want to follow in his brother’s footsteps and be a welder – a trade that at first glance could be thought to be a million miles away from the intricate world of the jewellery manufacturer. But it was a Saturday job that gave David his first insight into what jewellery design and manufacture was all about. He started where all Saturday jobs begin...making the tea!...although it wasn’t long before he progressed to serving customers and actively learning as an apprentice.
After leaving school David enrolled at Colchester Institute where he took a course in art and design, which was followed by gaining a place on a Jewellery Design and Manufacture degree course at the University of Rochester in Kent. In his second year David entered two design competitions, gaining enviable 2nd and 3rd places. He also won a bursary to make a knife and compass entirely from his own design and these were entered into a competition organised by the Goldsmiths Craft Council, part of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths; the stylish contemporary lines of the finished pieces are displayed in a photograph that hangs on the wall of David’s studio in the Colchester Business Centre. David was also marked out as an upcoming talent when one of his jewellery designs made its way into a glitzy Milan magazine, IO Donna, where it was featured in a fashion shoot.
Leaving his University years behind, David returned to Colchester with a BA (Hons) in Jewellery Design and Manufacture and experience in gold-smithing and silver-smithing, and started working from a small workshop at his home.
