The seller tells us about personal pieces and the ‘endless and fascinating’ possibilities in designing jewellery
“Permanent bracelets are welded on, and you can’t take them off, they are memories you can wear,” explains Laura Lees Morgan.
Laura is a “very happy mum” and jeweller, originally from North East Lincolnshire, but she has been “proudly forging silver jewellery for my stall on Greenwich Market since 2017”.
Her favourite pieces to create are always the one-of-a-kind items, which often “exist in my head until completion”.
Laura lists some previous commissions, such as forging a heart ring, a cuff set with sapphires, a skull pendant, a ‘Love you to the moon and back’ necklace, and an 18-carat gold ghost on a silver pendant.
“I also turned a much-loved drawing into a rose gold and silver necklace,” she says, adding that “the possibilities [when creating jewellery] are endless and fascinating. I love my job.”
What Laura enjoys the most, though, is doing her forever welded bracelets: “They are often fitted with someone you love, but not always,” she says.
Laura’s permanent bracelets are a bit different from some you see being sold as you can add a little charm that you or a loved one has chosen and stamped.
“My daughters stamped mine, so it’s a little extra way of always having them close to me,” she adds.
Laura started selling permanent bracelets around 18 months ago, with prices starting from £20 for a solid silver bracelet and £99 for a solid gold bracelet. The charms start from £20, which includes free personalisation.
Inspiration for her jewellery designs comes from everywhere, she says, from antique and vintage pieces, period dramas (which she notes are often filmed here in Greenwich – like the Queen’s House being used for Netflix’s Bridgerton) and especially from her customers.
Laura explains how she used to use “feel good quotes” on her pieces, such as “Live, love, laugh”, until a customer asked her to stamp “something naughty”.
“I happily obliged and, a few weeks later, yet another trendsetter asked me to put something equally naughty on a ring. I therefore created a few risqué pieces, which sold out immediately. So, my range of ‘Emotional Support Rings’ was born,” she says.
And at Laura Lees Morgan, most pieces can be personalised for free.
“I made a gentleman’s heavy cuff bracelet with the children’s names stamped on the inside,” she offers as an example.
She also makes “life’s most important pieces, too” and believes there is “no greater honour than making wedding and engagement rings”.
Laura says: “I take this very seriously. My favourites are perhaps a pair of platinum wedding rings where the bride and groom added little details to the other’s ring, creating even more memories.
“[When designing these items,] I become part of their families’ stories, starting off making them a little gift for their new partner, years later after having made their wedding and engagement rings, I find myself making treasures for their children.”
Laura’s designs can also be found on screen, having made the hairpins featured in the Ford Edge advert starring Mads Mikkelsen. “I was asked by a local Greenwich make-up artist working on the production if I could make something similar to antique Sperada, so that’s what I did. The first time I saw them on TV was pretty cool,” she says.
Laura has been working at Greenwich Market for seven years, “which has been great”. She says how there is “such amazing creative talent on the market – from other jewellers like myself to amazing artists, photographers, soft toy makers, fashion designers, quality leisure wear, wire artists, you name it, it’s at the market”.
And she adds you can’t forget the food on offer, too. Laura says Greenwich Market has the most delicious tea and coffee, her firm favourite of Brazilian crepes and pizza – “the list is endless”.
At the market, Laura meets customers from all over the globe, but she “loves our locals”, too.
You can find Laura on Saturdays and Sundays selling her jewellery, and also “repairing much-loved pieces on the spot wherever possible”.
So, if you’re looking for a special something as we approach the gifting season, check out a Laura Lees Morgan design.
Greenwich Market, SE10 9HZ
