THE GOLDMAN JEWELLERS GROUP

The Goldman Jewellers Group; Where unique doesn’t have to be expensive

As the nights draw in, the air gets cooler and the leaves start to fall we find ourselves dreaming of cosy Christmas scenes; of roaring fires, a room full of friends and family raising glasses of fizz, and the perfect Christmas gifts chosen with care for a loved one, presented in luxurious wrapping.

One Christmas gift that will never disappoint is the gift of jewellery. Whether it is a timeless classic piece, something more contemporary, a watch, gem set jewellery or diamonds to signify a special occasion or just because you want to show someone how much you care, jewellery is that traditional gift that will not only last but often be admired and always hold memories.

A new ITV daytime series ‘BLING’ puts a really interesting perspective on how people buy and view jewellery, the emotional links that it can hold to family heritage and the sentiment we put into buying jewellery for a loved one. This lifestyle show, hosted by Gok Wan, invites customers to ‘buy, sell, fix or make’ jewellery. This fascinating show sees people investing in new and bespoke jewellery pieces or mending or remodelling family heirlooms. It brings to life the reality that jewellery is actually one of the most important purchases that will last a lifetime.

Whilst this programme may look like a new concept, it is actually a service that traditional jewellers have offered for hundreds of years, in fact jewellery is the

original sustainable trade, recycling, reusing and remodelling gold, silver and gems to the latest designs. Local jewellery chain Goldman Jewellers has been established for 40 years and offers these services. Their four shops are located in the town centres of Bournemouth, Christchurch, Dorchester and Salisbury and all well established in the heart of the towns and have become trusted experts.

Inside each shop you will find experienced and welcoming staff who are there to advise you on your needs whether you are looking to buy a special piece for an engagement, wedding, special birthday or life milestone, or just treat yourself, you will find a wide selection to meet all tastes and budgets.

Their newly refurbished Bournemouth store in the Arcade has a striking exterior displaying new, second-hand and antique jewellery in captivating displays with a wide price range to suit all pockets from £100 gifts to exquisite £20,000 diamonds. The interior is a delight – furnished with vintage pieces and yet more treasures to explore.

The experienced and helpful staff explain that there is so much to the jewellery trade and many options on offer to find your perfect gift. Vintage, antique or secondhand jewellery offers such value for money, and is more likely to be unique and sustainable – allowing yourself to be guided by the Goldman Jewellers experts will help you to understand what to purchase and give you the confidence to buy wisely. For example, do you understand the difference between 9 or 18ct gold? Did you know when buying diamonds they are graded by carat? • Carat • Colour • Cut • Clarity (known as the 4 c’s) Do you have unused jewellery you would like to get valued for sale? Goldman Jewellers can help you!

With the rise in the trend of customers trading in unworn or broken jewellery for something that can be worn with pride and cherished as a stand-out piece, the Goldman Jewellers experts are helping many customers remodel heritage heirlooms. The in-house goldsmiths are able to carry out repairs or remodel jewellery in consultation with your designs or can suggest ideas once they have taken the time to understand your style. Recently a customer wanted to split her mother’s 3 rings amongst her four daughters; they each agreed on who would have which stones from the rings and each choose how they would like them re-set to suit their individual style.

They were also able to use the money from other pieces the customer was selling to reset the stones, so each granddaughter had a bespoke memory of their grandma – that they too would be able to pass down to their daughters and granddaughters.

The gold and jewellery buying service is ideal if you want to upgrade jewellery or sell items that you no longer wear, or just need to raise a bit of extra cash which happens to us all every once in a while. Just pop into one of the branches and speak to a member of staff.

Arcade Jewellers and their sister branches will also work together to meet customer needs and help you search for the ideal gift or piece of jewellery, from their extensive new, pre-loved and antique stock. By searching across all branches in Bournemouth, Christchurch, Salisbury and Dorchester giving you an even better chance of finding that unique gift to meet the needs of your loved ones. The stock is always changing with new stock being added weekly and they are currently introducing more contemporary pieces.

So, when was the last time you treated yourself, or reviewed and refreshed your jewellery collection? Are you looking to buy a special gift for a loved one? Goldman Jewellers would love to meet you and help you find your unique jewellery choice.

www.goldmanjewellers.com

ARCADE JEWELLERS Bournemouth Arcade, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH1 2AF Tel. 01202 298628 CHRISTCHURCH JEWELLERS 7 Saxon Square, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 1QA Tel. 01202 470075 DORCHESTER JEWELLERS Cornhill Corner, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1BA Tel. 01305 262754 SARUM JEWELLERS 14 New Canal, Salisbury, SP1 2AQ Tel. 01722 334567

The oldest established estate agents in Ringwood, with all viewings and negotiations being carried out by experienced members of staff.

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A charming equestrian residence in the New Forest National Park set on approximately 8.7 ACRES of stunning grounds with a walled garden, well-drained post and rail fenced paddocks with stables, outbuildings and a large arena with xride surface. This 5-bedroom period home extends to OVER 4300 SQ FT and offers extensive flexible living areas including an impressive galleried hall, a modern kitchen fitted in 2019 with AGA and three reception rooms. There is current permission to convert outbuildings to further accommodation and there is potential to extend further subject to planning permission.

5

basic design principles for creating a beautiful modern home

Design guru Matt Gibberd tells Lisa Salmon that using space, light, materials, nature and decoration cleverly will help make a home gorgeous.

Having a beautiful home has never felt more important than during the past 18 months when we’ve been forced to spend more time inside our own four walls – and you may have longed to transform yours into a beautiful modern living space.

But if a lack of know-how or limited finances held you back, it’s not too late to get started. For design guru Matt Gibberd insists it can be easy to create a gorgeous home without spending a fortune, just by implementing five simple design principles. If you ask me, a Palladian villa, for example, has the same sensibility as a masterpiece of the modernist era, and has been designed according to the same set of timeless principles,” he says.

“A simple way to think of these principles is to distil them into five categories – space, light, materials, nature and decoration. Paying careful consideration to each of these will allow you to create a home that’s beautiful, supportive and inspiring, regardless of scale or budget.”

Gibberd, who is a founding director of the design-led estate agency The Modern House, has just written the book A Modern Way to Live, in which he outlines the five principles and how to best use them to create a beautiful home.

Here he gives us a taste of exactly how to do it…

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Matt Gibberd | Vivek

Vadoliya/PA

BELOW

A Modern Way To Live by Matt Gibberd | handout/PA

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Elliot Sheppard/PA

SPACE Gibberd explains that when a home combines both space and “refuge” areas it can help make occupants feel settled. He suggests: “Try to create an open and bright space for socialising, and a womb-like space for retreating and sleeping. Even in a studio flat, creating different zones using a curtain, sliding partition or bookcase on castors can greatly enhance the experience of occupying the space.”

You can create the illusion of space with mirrors and reflective surfaces, he says, by using natural niches for built-in cupboards, and continuing the same material from inside to out. Consider re-hanging doors the other way around to open up rooms, and place radiators beneath windows to free-up valuable wall space for furniture.

And don’t forget the kitchen! Gibberd advises homeowners to think of the kitchen as a collection of pieces of furniture rather than a set of units, and to avoid wall cupboards if possible, as the space above them becomes redundant. And instead of a freestanding fridge-freezer, consider a pair of under-counter refrigerators side-by-side.

And then there’s the bin… “A free-standing dustbin hangs around the kitchen like a foul-smelling Dalek, tripping people up and overflowing with the remains of yesterday’s dinner,” declares Gibberd. “Try to build in the rubbish solutions – the space beneath the sink is always a useful spot for food waste, for example.”

LIGHT Gibberd says it’s better to consider fixed glazing with a conventional door alongside, rather than bifold doors. “A picture window – free of obtrusive handles and mechanisms – does a better job of framing the views and looks more beautiful because the structural supports are hidden,” he explains.

He suggests avoiding Roman blinds and pelmets, and hanging curtains from extra-wide poles so they can be pulled back to reveal the full window. And think about how the light moves around your home. “Sitting areas benefit from the enhanced light of a south-facing window,” explains Gibberd, “whereas parts of the home that are seldom used, such as utility rooms, are best placed on the northern side. The eastern side is ideal for sleeping, and dining spaces work well on the western side, where they capture the radiant embers of the day.”

Elliot Sheppard/PA

Elliot Sheppard/PA If your home has more than one level, he suggests thinking about inverting the layout. “You might never get used to the idea of declaring ‘I’m going downstairs to bed’,” he admits, “but in most other respects it makes a lot of sense, unlocking the light and views for the living spaces, and using the naturally darker areas lower down the building for sleeping.”

But although light is crucial for a home, Gibberd says householders shouldn’t be afraid of the dark either. “Without areas of contrast, our homes would be onedimensional and monotonous,” he explains. “If you walk down a shadowy corridor, for example, when you arrive at a sun-soaked space it feels all the more bright and uplifting.”

And on a brighter note, Gibberd says that if you can look straight into the filament of a lightbulb then it’s probably in the wrong place. “Shun ceiling lights in favour of task lighting, wall sconces and plug-in lamps that provide a gentler glow and better promote the circadian rhythm,” he suggests.

MATERIALS Gibberd says householders should think carefully about the things they come into physical contact with every day, including light switches, door handles or kitchen worktops. “Are these as tactile as they should be?” he asks, pointing out that natural materials will always age more gracefully than man-made plastics and laminates. “Try to preserve original materials wherever possible, as they tell the individual story of a building and induce less anxiety than new ones,” he advises.

Gibberd suggests living in a home for at least a year before making any changes. “For example, that wooden floor you thought was a bit beaten-up when you moved in might start to take on some significance – its warmth beneath bare feet, or its ability to absorb the comings and goings of daily life.”

Natural materials like marble and glazed tiles have a gentle sheen and are easy to keep clean, he says, and clay is a moisture-absorbing alternative to conventional plaster.

It’s also worth thinking about the environmental impact of the materials you use, he says, pointing out that cork, for example, is naturally regenerative because the tree grows back its bark, and farms provide some excellent sources of eco-friendly insulation, including sheep’s wool and straw bales.

NATURE A connection to nature is vital for wellbeing, so even those who are looking for somewhere to live in a city should try to find a flat that overlooks a communal garden, or has deep window ledges that can hold plants, suggests Gibberd.

If you’re lucky enough to have outdoor space, he suggests combining borders of shrubs and flowers with decking, compacted gravel, flint, stone setts or herringbones of brick.

And inside, stock up on the greenery. “Indoor plants positively impact our wellbeing, lowering blood pressure and increasing attentiveness, but they can also serve a practical purpose, helping to demarcate space, provide screening, absorb sound or add a flourish to an unremarkable room,” says Gibberd.

He suggests putting shells, pebbles and pinecones on the mantelpiece, using natural-looking paint colours, and hanging landscape paintings and photographs on walls.

Elliot Sheppard/PA

DECORATION Instead of fitted carpets, Gibberd suggests trying looselaid natural floor coverings such as sisal and jute, with a gap between the edging and the wall. Use rugs in layers and let them fill the natural spaces between furniture.

And to avoid making an interior feel one-dimensional, he says it can be a good idea to mix furniture and objects from different eras and places. “Rather than putting a set of matching chairs around the kitchen table, for example, throw a bench or a wobbly Windsor chair into the mix,” he suggests.

“Surround yourself with the objects that have the most meaning to you personally and tell the story of your life – family heirlooms, or things that remind you of a particular holiday or experience.”

He advises householders to avoid using a flat screen TV as a room’s centrepiece, and instead organise furniture traditionally around the hearth.

French & Tye/PA

Elliot Sheppard/PA Group furniture and objects together in odd numbers, he says, explaining: “If things are arranged asymmetrically, the eye is forced to move around them to fully absorb what it sees.”

And you may need to rethink the way your pictures are hung, he warns. “The most common mistake is to place them too high,” he points out. “My advice is to use your eye to find what feels like the right place instinctively, then take it down by six inches.”

And finally, he adds: “When choosing what to buy for your home, try to follow your instincts rather than any preconceived notions about what constitutes good taste. Many of the best things have not been celebrated on Instagram, can’t be found in textbooks, and don’t cost a great deal. Often they have an accidental beauty that’s the result of fulfilling utilitarian needs.”

A Modern Way to Live by Matt Gibberd is published on October 28 by Penguin Life, priced £25.

Words by Lisa Salmon, PA

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