From a professional kitchen to a jeweller's bench

Ashley Marshall began his career as a chef in some of London's better kitchens, The Dorchester, The Ivy and Le Caprice among them, where combining unlikely things into something coherent becomes second nature. He applied the same instinct to jewellery, founded Azuni London in 1995, and has been at it ever since.

The interest started on his travels in South America, where he took an ethnographic approach to indigenous craft, and continued through three years studying at the Sir John Cass faculty in London. What came out of it is a design philosophy he calls Urban Tribes: ancient artforms put alongside contemporary fashion, with no trademark house style, deliberately. Pieces are hand-textured, beaded, engraved and oxidised, in semi-precious stones and 24ct gold plate, with the sort of detail that rewards a closer look.

The beadwork is made by a co-operative of Mayan artisans in Guatemala, and a share of every purchase goes to the local charity Pueblo a Pueblo, which supports children's education in rural communities there. Azuni has stayed deliberately small, producing in limited runs.

The work has been carried by Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, and Paul Smith, Jigsaw, Whistles and Emanuel Ungaro have all commissioned collections.

Find Azuni in our Jewellery collection and the Gifts for Her edit, or see the rest of our British brands. Have a browse.