Stephen Webster creates first palladium jewellery

Stephen Webster used palladium for the first time for a special exhibition at the Global Luxury Forum, which was held in Moscow last week. The designer made a palladium brooch featuring intertwining fishes. 

Assia Webster, who was representing the designer at the event, said: “Stephen Webster is very adventurous and was happy to work with palladium. Palladium is a very universal metal, you can use it in more cases than gold. We couldn’t have made this with gold or platinum as it would be too heavy.”

The brooch was commissioned by the Palladium Company, which now owns the piece, so it will not be up for sale.

Palladium is lighter and more durable than other precious metals, and never changes colour. Because it is so much lighter, larger pieces of jewellery can be made using the metal, and it is popular with earring designers.

Palladium is also popular in watchmaking, and brands such as Cartier have been using it to embellish watches. Richemont Russian general manager Dmitry Yeremeev said: “Palladium has a good future, not only in the watch industry but in all industries.”

Despite the positive aspect to the metal, palladium has been plagued by hallmarking issues in the UK which have held it back from being recognised as a precious metal. However, the Assay Office has been reviewing this and palladium should start to be hallmarked from April, although this date has not been confirmed.

Have your say

You must sign in to make a comment.