Celebrity jewellery designer wants more youngsters to get involved
Celebrity designer Stephen Webster wants to encourage young people to become jewellers.
The jeweller turned designer - whose famous clients include the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, Jennifer Lopez and Lewis Hamilton - is part of a new group The Leopards hoping to encourage the next generation.
The group - which also includes jewellers Theo Fennell and Solange Azagury-Partridge - have teamed up with the Prince's Trust charity for the last eight years to raise vital funds, and now they are going further.
This week, The Leopards will distribute 10 jewellery toolboxes to teenage students at Birmingham, England's Aston University Engineering Academy.
Webster has compared this to the idea of sending young people onto a football pitch and urging them to have a kickabout to see where the passion emerges.
He added: "The UK is facing a crisis now, because there are not enough young craftspeople coming in.”
The toolboxes - which cost £500 - feature instruments including magnifying glasses, soldering blocks, tweezers and needle files.
Webster added that the goal is to "champion jewelry, and communicate what a fabulous career choice this is".
The industry group takes its name from the leopard hallmark used to mark gold and silver pieces made in London since 1363.
Since being founded in 2017, the group has focused on fundraising, and teamed up with prominant brands as well as London's Goldsmith's Hall, which has housed the British gold, silver and jewellery industry for over 700 years.
