Seeing as today is Galentines Day and tomorrow is Valentines Day I have been thinking about the pieces that I would choose to say ‘ I Love You’ to an amazing friend, a cheeky daughter or the great, big love of your life, or maybe even to yourself! I have picked three pieces, the first is the peace disc necklace as I think we all want ourselves and our loved ones to feel peace, to be happy and to live in the moment.. The second is the LOVE cuff set with a Lapis, Opal, Violet Amethyst and an Emerald, so that the gems spell out the word Love - the Victorians used jewellery in this way to send secret love messages 💕And if you really, really feel love the last piece is the ‘Darling’ heart charm set with a Diamond, Amethyst, Ruby, Lapis, Iolite, Nephrite and Garnet. Or you could always spell out your own personal message in gems and subtly give it to someone! Happy Galentines or Valentines... if you love someone let them know. If this time of year has got you thinking about love I would recommend following @conversations_on_love and signing up for the newsletter. Always makes me think, sometimes cry and then realise the simplicity of love.. ✨

A beautiful ‘Peace’ signet made with recycled gold about to go off to the setters to be set with a sapphire planet and 6 diamond stars on the shank ✨ 🌍 🕊

So happy to announce that as of now all my jewellery will be made from recycled gold as standard. Recycled gold means that the land and environment doesn’t have to be tampered with in order to mine the metal. The gold is exactly the same high standard as mined gold, and will be hallmarked at the London Assay Office, it just has much less of an environmental impact. Over 2000 tonnes of gold is mined for jewellery every year, polluting waterways and soil with toxic chemicals that harm humans and animals. Recycled gold removes this impact. However, nothing is ever straightforward and it wouldn’t be right to suggest otherwise! There are many communities who rely on gold mining to survive and some of these communities are as environmentally minded as possible, are responsibly using toxic chemicals and are paid a fair wage for the gold that is mined. This is known as Fairmined gold. SO.. Rachel Balfour Jewellery will use recycled gold as standard with an option to use Fairmined Gold if preferred!! Hope that is clear .. ✌️

Always such an amazing privilege to look at people’s heirloom jewellery collection. These stunning opals, aquamarines, amethyst and diamond pieces were collected by the owner’s Grandmother and have been passed down through the generations. They have been sitting unworn in a safe for too long, but with some clever up cycling they will be turned into stunning, wearable pieces that complement the owner’s style.. ✨✨✨