“Knowing my jewellery has been individually handcrafted by an artisan jeweller, with passion, dedication, and love, and has taken many hours or days to create, makes me feel very proud to wear it.”

This is the most common reflection and compliment of many of Sam’s customers at Jewel of the Nile Jewellers, these past 25 years.

While hand-crafted isn’t always better than machine-made, the jewellery that is better, depends on the materials used, the precision required, the attention to detail required, and the overall design. It also depends on the person making it. When something is hand-made, it benefits from attention to detail and a certain amount of artistry. The artisan making it by hand, can check the quality of each bit of material as it is used, and ensure that everything fits together absolutely perfectly.

Jewelry for special occasions, such as wedding and engagement rings, is typically created with a more classic and elegant look in mind. For these social settings, beautiful, durable, hand-crafted jewellery is an ideal choice, as it can remind the wearers of the artisan’s love and dedication in celebrating their union.

This is why Sam’s skills, with his attention to detail, and ability to understand his client’s wishes, and create unique individual pieces, has been so successful.

As an artisan and one of the few real handcrafting jewellers, Sam still creates all of his jewellery by hand just the way he learnt as an 11 year old, working in his father’s jewellery business in Cairo 50 years ago.

Sam has a reputation for creating stunning jewellery designs to be part of momentous occasions in his customer’s lives. He has been able to uphold a craft that is no longer taught. He designs and makes custom-made jewellery all the time.

All work is completed on-site within his Tyabb shop, and almost all the jewellery items advertised on this website were made by Sam at his shop. And Sam’s prices are very competitive.

Why not make an appointment with Sam to make that special item for you ?

Hand-crafting jewellery requires combining creative talents, with hands-on crafting ability. It requires very good communication skills to understand the preferences of customers, and how they would like to enjoy wearing and displaying their creative, unique, jewellery items.

Jewellery creation uses a variety of materials, including diamonds, gold, silver and other precious stones. A good jeweller needs to have creative thinking and a vision, in order to produce ideas, and concept drawings for the customer. Dexterity, attention to detail and good hand-eye coordination are critical to the job. Being organised, and able to deliver jewellery in time for a customer’s important life events is also critical.

Making jewellery requires;

• Mounting- making the framework for the piece of jewellery. This involves handling, forming and drilling metal, and opening out holes in which to place the selected gems

• Model making(casting) – making an object or decorative detail using a mould

• Stamping and presswork

• Chasing- making a raised pattern on the surface of the metal

• Soldering and fabrication

• Polishing- ensuring the finish of the piece.

Other specialist processes are needed for the item to be completed:

• Stone setting- making adjustments to the mount to ensure the stones fit perfectly. This can involve very intricate work, such as removing tiny fractions of metal

• Electro-plating- layering a precious metal onto a base metal

• Enamelling- fusing powdered glass to metal in a kiln to create coloured patterns and pictures

• Welding- joining pieces of metal using traditional methods or by laser

• Engraving- carving lettering or patterns into precious metals by hand