About
Alistair R is an independent premium jewellery brand based in Northern Ireland.
Through our emphasis on simple, timeless design we create uniquely beautiful pieces imbued with history. Every one of our designs aims to capture the alchemy and unique character of our hand selected gem and semi precious stones.
We ship to the EU, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Alistair’s story
My enthusiasm for stone was kindled in boyhood when, returning from a holiday, my grandparents brought me a Victorian sample box of semi precious stones. A mixture of agates, quartz and jasper, all labelled in French: the seed was sown
I grew up in Wiltshire, a land of open chalk downs and plains, fertile vales and prehistoric sites, surrounded everywhere by evidence of the importance of stone and wood to ancient man
Exploring was a staple pastime of youth, seeing ourselves as latter-day hunter gatherers; searching for flint artefacts, roman coins, fossils or unusually coloured stones; carving things from bits of wood.
The final prompt to make jewellery came from a beautiful set of early 20th Century dress studs. Made using silvery moonstone cabochons mounted in 18ct gold, these were a family heirloom passed down to me from my maternal Grandfather.
My grandfather Tom was an artist. In the late 1930's he received a telegram from a German friend asking him to check on someone who had fled to London with just one suitcase to escape Nazi persecution. The refugee was Gustav von Pohl, an intelligent man of strong principles. After 6 months or so and in gratitude for having been taken in, fed and clothed by Tom Gustav insisted that he accepted as a token his family's 18ct gold pocket watch and set of dress studs.
I am enchanted both by their simple, striking elegance and the resonant story of friendship, rescue and gratitude accompanying them. The dress studs are the embodiment of simple elegance, timeless quality, of less being more.
I was struck by how difficult it is to find such pieces these days, except perhaps in antique shops. This moved me, after a long career elsewhere, to commit myself to lapidary training and silversmithing.
Using ethically sourced rough stone alongside stone that I find in the wild I carve simple forms to show the beauty of the natural material. All of our jewellery is put together by hand and finished in our workshop, where we also make from scratch limited editions and unique pieces in unusual stones we come across.
Having initially started making cufflinks it was not long before I was asked to incorporate my stones into necklaces and other jewellery, and so the range has grown, always reflecting my passion for natural materials and the desire for simple, striking and uncluttered design.
Now a family business, we work with carefully selected partners in the UK and Germany for the casting of our precious metal designs, stone supplies, and hallmarking. We use creations from the world renowned stone carver Dieter Lorenz in some of our custom pieces. We hope that you enjoy them.
