UK Edition
In My Jewellery Box: Erin Morris
Born in Washington DC, Erin Morris studied at the Gemmological Institute of America and then in London, taking a degree in modern art at Christie’s. Her family includes three generations of jewellers and while on a trip to a jewellery trade show she met Jeremy Morris, the son of David Morris, who founded the eponymous London jewellery house in 1962. The pair married and in 2003 Jeremy was appointed the company’s managing director and principal designer.
Having supplied jewels for royalty, stars of the silver screen, Bond films and even the Miss World crown, today David Morris jewellery is designed by Erin and Jeremy, and handmade in London above the Bond Street store.
As the company sponsors the Ai Weiwei exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, its first lady shares the most precious treasures from her own jewellery box.
19th-century tiara
About 10 years ago I was throwing a big party with my husband and I decided to buy myself a tiara. I used to deal in antiques so I bought this one from a friend in Munich. It’s from the 19th century and has a Greek motif called a repeater, and a screw mechanism which would have held a feather. I like to wear it really casually with jeans and leather.
A lot of the antique pieces that I buy for myself become muses for David Morris collections. I loved this so much that I designed a range of tiaras about six years ago and they have sold really well. There’s definitely a tiara comeback happening.
Emerald bead necklace
In America, there’s a tradition that when you turn 16 you are given a double strand of pearls. So I found these beautiful emerald beads and decided to string them in the same way. I like the fact that no-one really knows what they are; I can walk down the street wearing something that’s basically an emerald necklace and people just think “oh, nice green beads”. One of my friends even said to me “I love that you wear plastic even though you’re a top jeweller” – although I do wear plastic sometimes, these definitely aren’t! Again at Davis Morris we do a lot of collections using different types of beads. It’s a really nice, casual way to wear gemstones that's still really luxurious.
Victorian snake necklace
This snake looks very modern but in actual fact it is Victorian English, from the 19th century. Snakes were quite a popular Victorian motif. It’s made of turquoise with ruby eyeballs and diamonds and is completely articulated. It’s a necklace but sometimes I wear it as a bracelet and everyone loves it, people always comment on it because it’s so unusual. A lot of these animal pieces really appeal to me and I love wearing something a bit unique.
Cartier sapphire bracelet
There’s a nice fair in Miami which deals predominantly in antique jewellery and is a really fun place to visit. We went a couple of years ago and one of our best friends was selling this Cartier bracelet. Jeremy said “I’ve just fallen in love with it, I want you to have it”, so he bought it, which was a very generous and lovely thing to do.
It’s from about the late 1930s and has Ceylon sapphires and diamonds set in platinum. I don’t wear it as much as some of my other pieces because it’s so wow, but I absolutely love it. As jewellery collectors sometimes you see things that you just covet and have to have. Sometimes we’ll sell things on, but I would never sell this – it’s too special.
David Morris rose-cut diamond band
The inspiration for this (main picture) was actually my own wedding band. Jeremy knew how much I liked antique jewellery so for months he started buying up all this antique jewellery with little rose-cut diamonds in. He took all the diamonds out and created this ring to surprise me with on our wedding day. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
I have always loved rose-cut stones and now it has become something of a David Morris signature. They are flat, cut like half a disco ball, so they have a lovely, softer sparkle; a very different aesthetic to the modern brilliant cuts. They were cut for candlelight so it’s very romantic. Every year we add a bit more to the rose-cut collection because women and men both love it. It has that beautiful antique look but with an air of modernity too. It doesn’t bother me that other people can buy my wedding ring – I’m thrilled. Besides, the stones are always different so every piece is unique.