SMO Considered Jewellery Awards

SMO Considered Jewellery Award

The SMO Considered Jewellery Award celebrates exceptional jewellery created with integrity, responsibility, and purpose.

Sponsored by Single Mine Origin (SMO), an initiative providing fully traceable gold from responsibly operated mines, the award reflects a commitment to greater transparency, accountability, and positive impact across the jewellery supply chain.

The award was open to all jewellers exhibiting at Goldsmiths’ Fair, not just those working with SMO, who could demonstrate a considered and responsible approach to material sourcing. Responsible sourcing formed a core part of the entry criteria

An expert panel, including jewellery expert and writer, Melanie Grant and acclaimed British jewellery designer Shaun Leane, judged entries based on the quality, originality and vision of the jewellery itself.

Four finalists were selected, with the overall winner to be announced at a special SMO Gold event at Goldsmiths’ Hall.

The winner will receive:

A year of PR mentoring from leading luxury communications agency EBPR
£4,000 credit towards responsibly sourced materials from The Betts Group

THE FINALISTS

MAKILA NSIKA

Makila Nsika brings cultural memory into contemporary jewellery through material experimentation.

Working between London and Congo-Brazzaville, she combines engraved palm nut kernels with 18k gold-plated silver recovered from medical X-rays. Her sculptural pieces connect inherited making traditions with a forward-looking design language, exploring sustainability, transformation and the enduring relationship between material, identity and place.

Collaborating with artisans in Congo, Nsika explores organic materials as a way to revive endangered making traditions while questioning what preciousness can mean. Palm nut kernel becomes an expressive alternative to endangered precious wood, its natural surface transformed through engraving and blackening. The resulting jewellery carries traces of cultural continuity, resilience and change, shaped by hand and material heritage.

THE FINALISTS

JAMES DOUGALL

James Dougall pushes the boundaries of contemporary silversmithing, bringing Damascus steel, high-carat gold and diamonds together in sculptural jewellery of remarkable precision.

Carved from old shotgun barrels, the steel is forged, engraved and fused with precious metals using time-honoured techniques. The result is work where material, craftsmanship and unexpected contrasts create something quietly exceptional and enduring.

Dougall’s practice is defined by an uncompromising exploration of materials and making. Damascus steel, structural steel, gold and silver are combined with an exacting understanding of how each material behaves. Traditional processes sit alongside an instinct for experimentation, allowing hammering, riveting, welding and engraving to become part of the design itself. Every detail reveals the hand of the maker.

THE FINALISTS

AMANDA LI HOPE

Amanda Li Hope brings an architect’s precision to fine jewellery, exploring colour, structure and material at the level of the metal itself.

An early Fairtrade and Fairmined Gold licensee, she hand-alloys her own metals in 18 distinct shades of gold. Her work transforms deep metallurgical knowledge into sculptural jewellery where responsible sourcing and exceptional craftsmanship are inseparable at every stage.

Working from her Hatton Garden studio, Li Hope starts with raw precious metals, developing alloys and surfaces with meticulous control. Her architectural eye brings clarity and proportion to each piece, while her commitment to provenance gives material choices greater meaning. The result is jewellery that makes the metal itself the story, balancing technical mastery, considered design and a distinctly human touch.

THE FINALISTS

JET McQUISTON

Jet McQuiston creates bold, modern heirlooms that hold stories, symbols and meaning.

Drawing on culture, history and the natural world, her jewellery treats precious materials as vessels for information and memory. Every piece is made in the UK using fully traceable materials, including Single Mine Origin gold and responsibly mined gemstones, bringing provenance and purpose together with distinctive contemporary design.

For McQuiston, jewellery can preserve information for generations, whether a family history, a love story or a wider cultural narrative. Her work combines contemporary processes with ancient ideas of symbolism, supported by specialist craftspeople including master gem-setters and vitreous enamellers. The result is jewellery that is intellectually engaging yet unmistakably wearable, where beauty and meaning exist in equal measure.

THE SMO FOUNDATION