All That Glitters: Britain's Next Jewellery Star: This week's edition is all about gold...

May 6, 2021 10:47 AM - Season 1, Episode 4

... as the 5 contestants are asked to make a pair of identical hooped earrings that could be a bestseller and then client Zeynap requests a gold locket to give to the woman who saved her mum's life. (from IMDB)

An inevitable elimination, and a surprising choice by the client.

I liked all the lockets other than the one made by the eliminated jeweller, but Dan's was my favourite, and his hoop earrings were just beautiful.

Now there are fewer jewellers left in the competition, it makes for a better show, as more time can be devoted to seeing how each piece of crafted. But the host and judges detract rather than enhance the enjoyment of the show.

posted by essexjan (5 comments total)

I agree that they did a bad job picking host and judges.

I’m basically enjoying the show because it’s interesting seeing how jewellery is made. But there’s diminishing returns for that, so I doubt that I’d bother to watch a second series.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 12:08 PM on May 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

Another weird obsession with modernity -- it's a style, not the only thing anyone likes in jewelry ever anymore -- and obviously the judges care about the brief only if its their favourites who follow it. I best liked Tamara's, which looked like the moon. I would probably buy the dragonfly hoops. Sonny is really good, but given how often they let him off for not following the brief, I'm annoyed and don't want him to win.
posted by jeather at 12:14 PM on May 6, 2021

I think it's already been signposted so much in the judging that Hugo is the frontrunner. They even gave him a pass on making a locket that they said was old-fashioned - which has got people sent home in other episodes. I'll be surprised if he doesn't win, although I'm rooting for Tamara - after all, she's from Essex!
posted by essexjan at 12:25 PM on May 6, 2021

I didn't like Hugo's locket at all, surprisingly. Not because it was old-fashioned -- honestly, the concept of a locket feels old-fashioned -- just because it didn't really gel for me.

I wouldn't be surprised if either Hugo or Sonny won.
posted by jeather at 6:08 AM on May 7, 2021

I hope they allowed the jeweller to tighten the clasp/fix the hinge on the locket that was chosen by the customer, since the judges pointed out it wasn't secure. While the customer seemed to like it, in my mind, a locket should be flat so that it can rest easily on the chest and remain easily hidden (should the wearer desire that). I don't think a rounded egg shape lends itself well to that.

I wasn't really enamoured of any of the lockets. The modern, geometric one looked too much like an old western coffin to me (just square off the end point), which is the exact opposite of the rebirth theme. I did like the earrings made by the jeweller.

The locket with the open cut-outs doesn't work as a locket as there is the risk of the contents falling out of the holes (think hair--although I'd never keep somebody's hair or wear it in a locket). I probably would have chosen that floral one with the embellishments.

While I liked the dragonfly earrings, I think the judge was correct in pointing out that they shouldn't hit the wearer's cheeks/face. That's a serious design problem. I also don't really consider those moon earrings as hoops.

Overall, I don't think the group of jewellers is really talented enough to be on a show like this, and I can't say I'm raring to watch the second season.

Also, the way the show was billed, I was expecting much nicer materials for them to work with--more gemstones, better quality metals, etc. Overall, this has felt pretty low-rent.

I feel that the time allocations for the challenges isn't exactly fair. The bespoke ones feel a bit short, especially given that they have to put some extra amount of thought behind the designs they need to conceptualize. Because this is going to an actual "customer," they should be given a bit of extra time to ensure the pieces are finished off to a high stardard.
posted by sardonyx at 10:27 AM on May 9, 2021