Many of you will know that we hand-make jewellery the old-fashioned way. Every piece is designed and made with you in mind — not just as something to wear, but something to hold meaning, memory, and story. True hand-made jewellery begins not with a computer, but with the metal itself. It is shaped through hammers, Durston rollers, hand tools, flame, and water — and, just as importantly, through decades of skill, learning, and lived experience.
There is a rhythm to it. Rolling. Heating. Watching the colour of the metal change. Annealing. Quenching — that beautiful, familiar sizzle as the metal meets water. Then back again. Rolling. Drawing. Shaping. Refining.
Through this process, something remarkable happens. The metal is work-hardened — its internal structure becomes stronger, tighter, more resilient. The strength is not added; it is created through the making.
The Difference Today Often now, you’ll hear the term “custom made.” In most cases, this refers to CAD CAM — computer-aided design and manufacturing. Pieces are designed digitally, then cast or printed before being assembled and polished by hand. There is a place for this method. But it skips something we deeply value — what happens within the metal when it is truly hand-made. That internal strength. That resilience. That sense of something being formed, not just produced. It is why, whenever possible, we choose the old way.
Made With You, and For You Ninety-nine percent of the pieces we create for you are designed alongside you and hand-made by our jeweller and apprentice. This also allows us to do something incredibly meaningful — to reuse your gold. We can take gold that already holds your story — family pieces, heirlooms, fragments of the past — and transform it into something new while carrying that legacy forward. For many of our clients, this is one of the most important parts of the process. Alternatively, we can source new gold through our trusted refineries — always with the same care and intention.
The Pieces We Choose We would love to hand-make every piece in our store. And while many are, there are also pieces in our collection that come from a small circle of makers we have known — and trusted — for decades. Today’s yellow gold hammered band with opal is one such piece. It is hand-made. Just not by us. And that matters — because we still stand by how it has been made.
A Community Behind the Craft The people we work with are not anonymous suppliers. They are part of our lives. Some I have known since before To Hold & To Have began — even before my sister retired from her own store. Some I grew up with in Palmwoods. We shared music teachers, school years, end-of-year concerts. Over time, those connections have become something deeper. I know their families. Their children — who love gymnastics, who love art, who lean toward science. I know the seasons they’ve walked through, including the difficult ones. One of our tool suppliers is the brother-in-law of one of my closest friends — a woman I walked beside through fifteen years of cancer. She is no longer with us, but her connection remains present in our workshop, in the tools we still use today. When we first opened, he supplied our rolling mills. He still supplies our hammers, pliers, and tools. These are not just transactions. They are relationships.
How We Choose for You Every few months, this particular supplier brings in a selection of pieces. I don’t choose them from a catalogue. I hold them. Turn them in the light. Look closely at their detail and finish. And most importantly — I think of you. What will resonate. What feels different. What holds its own quiet significance in design, gemstone, and craftsmanship. We choose only a few pieces each time. Always with intention. Always with care.
More Than Jewellery At To Hold & To Have, nothing we offer is without thought. Whether a piece is hand-made in our workshop or carefully selected from someone we trust deeply — it has been chosen because it holds something more. A story. A connection. A standard. Because jewellery, to us, has never simply been about adornment. It is about what we carry forward. What we remember. And what we choose to hold onto… “To Love, To Remember, “To Hold & To Have” Forever.
To Hold & To Have 