Company Information

Church House Jewellery Ltd was established in 1988 by Jeremy Heber who, having graduated from university with a degree in English literature, did the obvious thing and taught himself to make jewellery. He built a bench, set it up in the living room of a long-suffering friend and started filing away at little bits of silver. Twenty years on the company is supplying gold and silver designer jewellery to a wide range of shops throughout the UK and abroad.

Over the intervening time I have employed various craftsmen and expanded the business but, in 2005 I scaled it all down again and I now work alone and nearer to home. This is great for me but slightly worrying for my family who now see rather more of me.

Where you can see more work 

This site shows about 2/3 of my range and I add new work as and when I can. If you want to see the whole lot then please request a catalogue. I still supply a number of shops around the UK and they would be delighted if you visited them but you should be aware that none of them will stock the whole of my range and it might be worth ringing the shop to see if they have the piece that you want before you drive half way across the country to see it.

How I do things:

There are four factors that are important to me in supplying a high quality product.

Design

Some years ago I came up with the strap-line, 'Simple Design; extraordinary elegance'. It didn't take long for the lads who worked for me to find my letterhead template and change it to 'Simple designer; extraordinary arrogance'. This is among the reasons that I no longer employ.

My aim is to design jewellery that is distinctive and yet classic enough to be worn by most people on most occasions. I try to restrict the size of the range to those designs that I feel really "work" rather than churning out hundreds of bland, ordinary pieces that would sell well but simply blend into all the other unexciting jewellery on the market.

I want the pieces that I sell to be treasured by those who own them; to be beautiful as objects in themselves and to enhance the way a person feels about themselves when wearing them.

Many of the pieces that I design deliberately stretch the capabilities of the materials and the skill of manufacture in order that they remain exclusive and difficult to copy. It's also because I have a perverse drive to attempt the impossible which has led me into all sorts of difficulties over the years.

Quality

Every piece of jewellery I produce is made by hand, largely by traditional methods. There are some more technical processes involved such as casting which allows basic units to be produced more accurately and efficiently but the most fundamental ingredient of the work I produce continues to be skill.

I use sterling silver and 9ct or 18ct gold and each piece carries a British hallmark to guarantee the quality of the metals.

The final finishing process involves a fine polish called Rouge. When I employed, Thursday was 'rouging day' where I would finish all the work made for me by my hapless slaves during the week. We all hated it; me because I had to spend a whole day polishing and the slaves because I threw so much of it back at them to be sorted out or improved. These days, I'm making each piece myself and following it right through every process. This means that I can monitor the quality the whole way through to the point that it goes into the box for dispatch. If anything does slip through, and if you find any faults or flaws in the work or the materials I will set it right in short order or offer you a refund if you prefer.

Price

My policy is to keep my prices as low as possible in order to make the jewellery I produce available to the largest number of people. I do not feel that the client should pay a premium simply because they are buying a piece of jewellery that is design-led and British made. Of course, from my point of view, I would rather sell two pieces at £20 than one at £25, so there's a good pragmatic reason to keep the prices reasonable!

The prices in this web site are roughly equivalent to those you will find in the shops. I have to maintain this policy in order to be able to sell my work to the shops but if you order a catalogue and become an esteemed private client then I can offer you discounts and special offers. Commissions and one-offs I tend to be able to make slightly cheaper than others who do this sort of work.

Service

I enjoy the contact that I have with my clients and, due to my struggles with social integration as a child, it's imperative that everybody likes me. This is great for my customers as it means that I work hard to provide a fast and efficient service. I do get immense satisfaction from the delight that many of my customers express and it makes what is often a hard and dirty job very worthwhile. If you want to read comments that I have paid my customers large amounts of money to fabricate then please look on my Reviews and Endorsements page.