Treasured jewellery is often steeped in sentimentality, while bespoke pieces can seem like the ultimate indulgence. Yet using unworn family heirlooms to create new pieces that will be worn over and over — and enjoyed, rather than sitting redundant in a jewellery box — is a wonderful way to give old things new life. Hetty Lintell takes a look at how jeweller Cassandra Goad does just this for her clients.
Bespoke jewellery is on the rise, and Cassandra Goad is the woman to take your dreams and make them reality.
Look to Cassandra Goad, the creative magpie behind some of the most gorgeous bespoke jewellery who can help tell a story through jewels, and bring joy to the wearer each time they put on a beloved piece (in fact, they may well never take it off).
This tennis bracelet was unloved and unworn, and it was transformed by Cassandra Goad into this sensational statement cuff.
Cassandra can start from scratch on an exciting journey of creativity with you, needing just a tiny spec of an idea (one client wanted a pendant exactly modelled on her favourite apples from her orchard), or she can work with jewellery you already have to reinvigorate it, ensuring the piece becomes a firm favourite, certainly not banished to the dark corners of your attic.
This pendant is a modern and vibrant design using the stones from the old brooches above.
Have you got some old brooches gathering dust? There are so many ideas to give them a new lease of life so you carry those stones with you for their sentimentality, but in an infinitely more wearable way.
Antique jewellery can be beautiful, and sentimental too of course, but what if you have a piece of jewellery that you hold dear but never wear? Cassandra Goad might be the answer to your prayers with her creative flair, but also her innate sensitivity to what a family heirloom might mean to its custodian.
‘This fabulous trefoil clover leaf brooch was a little wonky but had amazing old cut diamonds’ explains Cassandra ‘so we transformed it into a fun ring and a little pair of earrings that are worn everyday’. The ring is a very clever way of setting lots of diamonds to be worn everyday, and is in classic Cassandra Goad style.
Men in particular can be twitchy about breaking up their old family jewellery, but Cassandra is a total pro and knows how to work around a piece of jewellery if you want to borrow a stone and keep the setting in case one day you want to remake the old piece. Men tend to end up relishing the fact that a piece of jewellery might only cost £3,000 to make but be worth £30,000 with the stones they already owned.
Take this Jardinerie brooch, a traditional and often seen design that was made into this sapphire ring, perfect for an engagement ring
‘Perhaps there’s a massive brooch in the family, which is lovely, but all she really wants is a little diamond pendant (like below) which can be worn every day, on the school run and go to the supermarket’ enthuses the designer, who can make both simple pieces or more one-off design-led jewellery. The main point being that it must be something you will wear and love, and look after for the next generation.
This sizeable brooch was generous in its harvest and allowed for a number of pieces to be designed from it: a small selection of them are shown here.
This bangle was formally part of a family tiara, gifted to two sisters who split it. A section was removed and designed into this bangle, a thoroughly modern feeling piece.
Of course there will be times when you want something brand new and totally one-off, so bring Cassandra an idea and she can turn it into reality. One client always collected a particular shell on his favourite beach, and had this gold pendant made, which led to the whole family having pendants to match. ‘The pendant is exactly how you’d find it on the beach, all the textures and the matt feeling of it’ describes Cassandra ‘and he was thrilled to have something from his adventures and his travels to share with them all.’
Not every brooch is old, this brooch was made for a racehorse owner whose horse, ‘Cassandra Go’ was named after the designer herself (he was meant to sell the horse, then didn’t, so apologised to his wife with a necklace from Cassandra Goad) The horse went on to win big, and to celebrate he commissioned this fabulous brooch which of course is perfect for wearing to the races on the lapel of any jacket.
Cassandra Go brooch
