Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all, and thanks to our customers and friends who bought gifts from our Christmas Collection and those who commissioned one-off pieces. I hope we helped make Christmas a special time for all of you who gave the gifts, and I hope that those who received PIKE boxes were equally surprised and excited. May you wear and enjoy the jewellery for many years to come.

I really enjoyed the 2014 festive season – in fact, it was the first time for many years. We fulfilled all our jewellery orders on time, we didn’t have to work crazy, long hours and we had a nice break in early January. Our lovely Christmas day lunch at home was very relaxed and a lot of fun with Louise and Matthew, their partners and their children, my sister and my dear 88 year old mother. It was a perfect day. I built a teepee in our back garden for the kids and it was a great success – and not just for the kids, evident by a pair of adult legs protruding out through the door around mid-afternoon siesta time.

2015 brings with it exciting times and some interesting challenges. Highgate has proved a great home for our small business practice and I will be designing a new range of jewellery pieces which will be launched later in the year. I am interested that the Pantone colour for this year is Marsala – this colour happens to be represented by the garnet family, which is the birthstone for January. Of all the garnet colours, the rich reddish/pink brown gem varieties known as Rhodolite and Pyrope give lots of scope for mounting in silver and gold, and it’s a beautiful stone colour to wear in winter. It is also fantastic mixed with other colours. Come in and have a coffee and a chat soon and I can show you the full range of garnet colours, some of them unexpected. They are all beautiful and maybe I can tempt you with a design ‘just for you.’

Matthew completed some amazing work during our busy pre-Christmas period and everybody was thrilled with his superbly crafted pieces. Louise kept us on track making sure everything ran smoothly, and that there were no last minute problems – congratulations to both of you, a great finish to 2014.

More news – Louise will be leaving soon to spend more time with her young family and to pursue a human rights career and I want to thank her so much for committing herself to her family and our customers, and for assisting to raise the awareness of the PIKE brand. We couldn’t have done it without her and Helen, Matthew and I wish her every success for her future – I know she will be out there spreading the word as a true ambassador for the PIKE brand. Good luck Louise. x

I will have lots more news in February, so until then cheers from me.

Nicholas