From humble beginnings to our established family business making fine jewellery, it has been quite the journey…

In 1968 Richard returned from Germany where he qualified as a goldsmith at Goldschmiedeschule, Germany. On his return he opened a small jewellery workshop in the yard behind where our current premises are. Along with his late wife Heidi, they began by completing repairs for other St Helier jewellers which helped to fund their initial small production of handmade jewellery, which was designed by Heidi, and crafted by them both. They were soon able to expand the business with the acquisition of our retail showroom and workshop.

​​Richard’s path into jewellery retail and manufacturing began straight from leaving school. A practical young man, he began working in a local jewellers, learning about watchmaking and repairs before moving to Germany to become a qualified goldsmith. During his 4 years in Germany he studied all aspects of the jewellery trade and with the support and encouragement of one particular tutor, who has became a good friend to this very day, he honed his skills and qualified, specialising in goldsmithing and diamond setting.​

Richard remains very hands-on and his role for many years has been, in addition to running the business, working at the bench and supporting the learning and skills development of the new generation of goldsmiths. One of these has been his daughter, Julie Blampied-Smyth, to whom he has very proudly been able to pass on the baton.​

Julie followed in Richard’s footsteps and attended the Goldschmiedeschule in Germany, completing her Gemmology and Goldsmithing courses. Here, she focused her time on learning the craft thoroughly…

After five years spent in Germany, she returned to Jersey where she worked at the bench creating new pieces under the watchful eyes of Richard and Derek. Fast forward ten years, and a couple of lovely kids later, Julie decided to spend less time at the bench and take more time working on business decisions, planning, and working up to taking over from Richard as Director of Aurum in 2017.

With a wealth of knowledge spanning Goldsmithing, to selecting and buying gemstones, to day-to-day business, Julie is an esteemed creative mindset and an excellent manager to our teams here at Aurum.

Alexa, one of our longest serving members of the team, has been with Aurum for 30 years.

Her main role involves designing bespoke pieces of jewellery. This could be commission pieces for customers, items for the showroom, mini collections and our larger biennial collections.​

Growing up with a love for painting, drawing and sewing, Alexa was destined to work in the creative world. She studied Jewellery, Silversmithing and Allied Crafts at Sir John Cass College in London and her first introduction to Aurum was during her year in industry where she worked at the bench. Following college and 2 years working in Hatton Garden, she moved to Italy, working as a nanny, an English teacher and then designing her first jewellery collection for a Florentine company. Returning to Jersey, she joined Aurum’s team, developing her design skills further, enjoying the pleasure that comes from interacting with jewellery and working with gemstones choosing from their infinitely different colours and shapes to design exquisite pieces of jewellery. 

The most enjoyable part of her role is the whole process of meeting and working with a customer to design their vision, then seeing it created by the workshop team and finally presenting the finished piece to its proud new owner!

Derek has been part of the Aurum family for some 40 years!​

​Derek works at the bench as a goldsmith as well as ensuring the smooth running of the workshop. Through his wealth of knowledge and experience he is both the creator of award-winning jewellery as well as an expert support to other members of the team.​

​Shortly after a chance meeting with founder Richard Blampied, who ignited his passion for this ancient creative art, Derek – aged 17, moved to London to complete a 5 year apprenticeship in goldsmithing. At the same time, he studied and qualified as a gemologist. Following his apprenticeship Derek worked in London and Australia before moving to Jersey to take up a position at Aurum.​

​Derek has always had an artistic side and so enjoys the nature of the work at Aurum. Thriving on the challenge of transforming a design into a piece of jewellery, which at times, even with all his years of experience he is still expanding his skills and learning new techniques.

Emmy has been part of the Aurum family for 16 years working at the bench as a goldsmith in our workshop using her exceptional talent to create exquisite jewellery. ​

​Creativity has always been a large part of Emmy’s life having completing a degree in Graphic Design before embarking on a 5 year goldsmith apprenticeship with us at Aurum.​​

It was during her travels that Emmy’s interest and journey with jewellery began. Fascinated by the talented makers of beautiful jewellery that she met gave her inspiration to begin making herself.​

Emmy enjoys the creativity of her role and particularly enjoys working on our collection pieces and their unique designs. ​

“I love working at Aurum because there are always new challenges and skills to be learnt, especially with our own collection pieces. As a Jersey girl, I’ve been proud to work on our Jersey landmarks range, crapauds and chess set as these pieces showcase our heritage and beautiful island.” 

Chris has been part of the Aurum family for over 8 years.​

He completed his goldsmith apprenticeship here at Aurum and works as an integral part of our workshop team. Chris’ day can vary from working on repairs, stock pieces, collection pieces and commission pieces. ​​

Chris has always enjoyed being a creative and practical person. It was taking inspiration from and following in his father’s footsteps that led him to embark on a career in the jewellery industry as a goldsmith.​

Having the opportunity to be creative and skilfully make beautiful pieces of jewellery is the most enjoyable part of the role for Chris.​

One of most recent member to join the Aurum family is Stefan. ​

Stefan’s role is to set precious and semi-precious gemstones into various pieces of jewellery and ‘objet d’art’.​

​During Stefan’s goldsmith apprenticeship he was specifically chosen, because of his patience, control and attention to detail to specialize in setting.​

​Stefan’s journey into this career began as a talented artist, when he started carving pendants before deciding to train professionally.​

​Having the opportunity to be creative is the part of his role he enjoys the most. In particular, Stefan finds working at Aurum more fulfilling as he has greater room for expression, due to the nature of the pieces we make. 

Dawn has been part of our Aurum family for 10 years.​

Maintaining in-house systems, customer service, valuations and general running of the office makes for an extremely varied role for Dawn.​

​In addition to Dawn’s previous experience of administration and jewellery retail she has built on her knowledge during her time at Aurum, achieving both JET1 and JET2 qualifications.​

Dawn is happy to be part of a team that prides itself on their customer service, “It’s great reading a lovely comment and feeling appreciated”. Dawn also enjoys working for a family run business as she too is made to feel like part of the family.

Jo has been part of the Aurum family for 8 years and enjoys a varied role. As well as working in the showroom using her wealth of knowledge and expertise on all things jewellery (JET 1&2 qualified) Jo also works closely with our suppliers and senior management team. ​

Having always worked in customer service Jo is passionate about providing an exceptional shopping experience. Jo was particularly attracted to the role because of the nature of the product. “Seeing a product from its design stage through to the shop front makes it more special, you feel part of the process”.​

Jo is happy that there is always something new to learn in the world of jewellery and appreciates the inclusive and valued nature of working for Aurum in particular. 

Sally joined the Aurum family 8 years ago. In addition to providing expert advice and customer service Sally takes the lead over many aspects of the shop floor to ensure its seamless running. From creating beautiful window and cabinet displays, expertly guiding you (Jet 1 qualified) to your perfect piece of jewellery and supervising colleagues, Sally’s day can vary greatly.​

Having previously worked in jewellery retail Sally knew she wanted to continue and progress with this career and considered Aurum a great place to be able to do this.​

As well as feeling part of a tight knit team Sally also enjoys witnessing jewellery go from design, to craft, to then being able to present it to a customer.

Ollie comes to us with an abundance of retail and customer service experience.​​

You will find Ollie in our showroom expertly advising and guiding you to your perfect purchase.​

Working with jewellery is a change to Ollie’s previous retail roles and he is finding the bespoke, more personable approach hugely enjoyable. It was this difference in approach that attracted him to this particular role.

You can find lovely Fay in our showroom. Fay expertly guides our customers in choosing their pieces carefully, answering any queries, providing excellent customer service and liaising with the workshop for any bespoke enquiries or works to be completed.​

Fay has a wealth of previous customer service experience and professional qualifications that she brings with her to the role. She delighted in the new challenge of bringing this skill set to the world of jewellery retail.​

As well as learning about jewellery and assisting customers Fay enjoys the friendly, family orientated working environment at Aurum.

Bailey joined us as ‘Head of Snacks’ following the completion of her apprenticeship at Le Pawdon Bleu.​

Her main tasks include regular snack patrols, crumb hoovering and the negotiating and acquisition of snacks for herself and her colleague Willow. ​

Her favourite part of her day at Aurum is usually around elevenses. 

Willow’s experience in cuddle giving is second to none. She trained at the School of Cuddles before graduating and commencing work at Aurum as ‘Head of Cuddles’. ​

Willow takes care of the day to day wellbeing of the team which extends far beyond cuddles to also include anything from face licks to high fives.​

Her favourite part of the role is her daily snooze under the desk with her colleague Bailey.​