About 18 months ago I was introduced by a friend to the wonderful London-based jewellers ECOne. Run by Jos and Alison Skeates, who set it up 13 years ago, the company's name comes from the the postcode of the diamond and jewellery-making area in London (EC1).
I must admit, as much as I love jewellery I very rarely go out looking to buy it, I usually pick up odd bits and pieces on random shopping trips. However, when I was asked to go along to an event at one of ECOne's stores I was instantly in love and it is somewhere I would happily go to all the time to look at their stock, were it not for the damage it would do to my bank balance. This by no means that ECOne's stock is ridiculously expensive, in fact it's all quite affordable, the problem is I'd want to buy it all.
The affordable factor is just one of the things that attracts me to ECOne's stock, and as a quick note do not read affordable as cheap, these pieces are high quality and beautifully designed and most pieces are over £100 minimum. The other main attraction for me is the contemporary style of most of the pieces at ECOne; I'm totally not a traditional jewellery type of person, it just doesn't suit me. I prefer more unusual pieces, and that's just what you get at ECOne. Here are some of my favourites from their most current collection:
Photos: ECOne
Both of these rings are by designer Monica Vinader, whose pieces I love, so much so that I have one of her rings. I'll post a picture of it soon, it's quite different to both of these. Monica's rings always follow a similar theme of a large stone with a border on a usually gold band. Most of the stones are cut on the surface, which makes them so interesting to look at, one of my favourites from a couple of seasons is a square version, oh I wish I had it!
Sticking on the theme of rings, I cannot describe how much I want THESE:
Photos: ECOne
I just love, love, LOVE these. The more I look at them the more desperately I want them. They are designed for stacking... just imagine! They'd look beautiful with a long skirt and some sandals, a casually thrown on scarf and a denim jacket and perhaps a couple of long necklaces. Oh I WANT! Maybe time to start dropping hints to the boyfriend...
Right, time to stop lusting. Just so you know, those two lovelies are by Erika Pena.
Finally for tonight I want to show you these two little treasures:
Photos: ECOne
Cute, no?! They're designed by Tina Lilienthal, and there are a couple more like them in the collection. I like the simplicity of the second one with the single gold bunny, but I like the oxidised skull and chain on the top one. I think it'd be quite nice to wear a couple of these at once a little bit tangled up... I'd be tempted to alter the chains so they were different lengths as well.
There is so much more available at ECOne than I have put up here, and there is one collection in particular that I am going to post about separately. I recommend taking a look at their website to see everything else, but I recommend going into one of their shops even more highly. The staff are lovely and so knowledgeable, and if you go to the Exmouth Market store you can take peer into their in-house workshop and see some of the pieces being made!
Just maybe leave the credit card at home...
