Handmade Jewellery
Sydney jeweller Nicky Burles has spent more than 25 years making jewellery by hand. From his Sydney studio, he creates bespoke pieces in platinum and gold using natural diamonds, sapphires, tourmalines and other exceptional coloured gemstones.
Traditional handmaking is a central part of Nicky’s bespoke practice. For these commissions, he begins with raw precious metal at the bench and gradually builds the piece around its individual gemstone.
What Handmade Means
The word handmade is often used broadly in jewellery. A piece may be described as handcrafted because cast components have been assembled, set and polished by hand. However, these pieces are commonly designed on a computer and sent offsite for printing, casting and production. Increasingly, even bespoke pieces are machine-made.
When jewellery is truly handmade, it begins with precious metal at the bench. Rather than assembling pre-made or cast components, the jeweller forms and builds the individual parts through forging, rolling, drawing, cutting, soldering, filing and shaping.
Jewellery with the Hand of its Maker
A handmade piece is not perfectly uniform in the way a machine-produced object is. Its small variations come from forming and finishing each component individually.
This human element gives jewellery much of its beauty. The finished piece contains the gemstone, the story behind the commission and the time spent making it. It has a rhythm that cannot be produced through machine manufacturing.
When jewellery is handmade, the jeweller responds to the stone as the piece develops. Each component must be shaped and adjusted until it finds the right balance with those around it. As each piece is made, one side may need to be softened, or a curve altered by a fraction. The jeweller moves back and forth between the individual components and the piece as a whole until the proportions feel right.
This is also where Nicky’s hidden details take shape. A hand-pierced gallery, a pattern beneath a setting or a small gemstone tucked out of sight can be worked into the structure as the piece is built.
The design is not simply reproduced mechanically in metal. It is interpreted through the act of making. Like the brushstrokes in a painting, the jeweller’s hand can be seen in each element that makes up the finished piece.
What the wearer ultimately sees is the balance achieved through that process. The many adjustments disappear into the whole, and the quiet dance between the stone, the metal and the maker remains.
Quality Built into the Piece
Quality begins with the design. A setting needs enough metal to hold its gemstone securely, while the underlying structure must withstand movement and wear.
More than 25 years at the bench inform every piece Nicky designs. He understands how precious metals behave, where jewellery experiences stress and how delicate forms can be given the strength they need.
Through his repair work, Nicky often sees what happens when jewellery has been designed or produced without this depth of practical experience. A dimension that appears acceptable on a screen can leave too little metal around a stone or in an area exposed to wear. The piece may look beautiful when it is new, but stones can come loose, fine claws wear away and settings fail earlier than they should. Sometimes there is not enough metal to rebuild the piece securely, or the surrounding structure is too light to support a lasting repair.
Traditional hand construction gives Nicky direct control over the internal structure of a bespoke piece as he makes it. Metal can be placed where strength is needed, with enough material allowed for wear and future repair.
Beneath the lightness of a delicate handmade piece is a structure designed to endure. This is quality reveals itself over a lifetime of wear. That same understanding of structure, materials and longevity informs Nicky’s collection designs.
From the First Conversation to the Finished Piece
The design and manufacture of contemporary jewellery are often divided between several people and businesses, sometimes across different countries.
When commissioning a handmade piece with Nicky, the client works directly with him from the first meeting through to the design and making of the piece. Nicky spends time with the client to understand their ideas and develops the design with them.
That understanding then travels with Nicky to the bench. Nothing is lost through handovers between salespeople, designers and manufacturers. He knows why each decision was made, which details matter to the client and how the finished piece should feel. The vision shaped during those early conversations remains in his hands through to the final polish.
Clients looking for handmade jewellery in Sydney can meet with Nicky by appointment. Phone consultations can also be arranged for interstate and international clients.
Contact Nicky to discuss a jewellery commission.