Professional Jeweller Article – Elizabeth Galton signs 40 designers to new website

Jewellery designer and ex-Links of London creative director Elizabeth Galton has spoken with Professional Jeweller about her new online jewellery retail venture, which has seen her inundated with designers and brands wishing to be involved.

Galton, who last week announced her new solo venture into jewellery retail with online boutique Elizabeth Galton Studio, has this week signed two further designers – Hannah Warner and Momocreatura, the latter a finalist in Professional Jeweller’s recent Treasure competition.

Elizabethgaltonstudio.com will officially launch in early May, but has been in the pipeline for some time, with Galton saying she had plans for an online retail venture long before leaving Links of London. “It’s been in my mind for sometime”, Galton said, “I’m as much of an entrepreneur as I am a jewellery designer, so I was looking at creating a website with multiple designers, profile pieces and style-led pieces.”

The last project that Galton worked on at Links of London was the brand e-tail site, so with the research that came with the project, Galton stood in good stead for her current venture.The new Elizabeth Galton Studio site has seen close work with advertising and web design company PS London, who will also handle all of the marketing and product uploads for the site.

To date, Galton has almost 40 designers signed up to he new venture, with fashion jewellery designs under £50 and fine jewellery pieces peaking at £26,000. There will also be a bridal offering and bespoke service which will see Galton partner consumer requests with specific designers sold through the site. “It’s a precise collection with quite a number of London-based designers. It’s quite Cool Britannia, with quirky and up-and-coming brands”, said Galton.

Several of the designers and brands which will be sold through Elizabeth Galton Studio have been sourced by the designer herself, but she has also been approached by countless jewellery designers who want to be part of the new online retail site. “Once word got out about the site I was inundated with people wishing to be involved. I’ve had to be a little bit careful with who I have chosen, but the result is a well-balanced collection of designers who all have that certain something, all complement each other and have clear points of difference.”

The designers include up-and-coming brands such as Tina Lilienthal, Claire English, Jessica de Lotz and Katie Rowland. The site will also feature fine jewellery from Tomasz Donocik, Sarah Herriot and Sho Fine Jewellery, with men’s collections by William Cheshire and international names including Yuki Mitsuyasu and St Erasmus.

As a special side project, which will be launched on the site later in the year, Galton told Professional Jeweller that she will unveil her own new collection of jewellery which will take a different course from her past designs, which orginally won her backing on TV show Dragon’s Den. “The new collection is still under wraps but it will be a world apart from what I’ve done before and fairly affordable”, explained Galton.