Robert Ketch · Trained jeweller and designer-maker · Tunbridge Wells

Jewellery should survive fashion, accidents and families.

KETCH makes new jewellery, repairs old jewellery and brings worthwhile pieces back into use. Based in Tunbridge Wells, Robert Ketch undertakes bespoke commissions, repairs and remodelling. KETCH also offers a carefully chosen collection of pre-owned and vintage jewellery.

Sometimes the right answer is to make something entirely new. Sometimes it is to preserve the stones, metal and memories already there. Either way, the aim is the same: jewellery that is properly made, honestly described and worth keeping.

Below is how those decisions are made.

Robert Ketch working at the Ketch Fine Jewellery workshop in Tunbridge Wells repairing a gold ring

The greenest jewellery may already be in your drawer.

There is nothing especially green about replacing something that could have been repaired. Much of our work starts with jewellery people already own: worn rings, broken chains, inherited stones and pieces that no longer quite suit the person wearing them.

We repair what can be repaired, remodel pieces worth keeping and make new jewellery in small quantities rather than producing stock simply to fill shelves.

Precious metal is particularly good at second lives. The gold and platinum we use are generally recycled, and many of our natural stones have already spent years in other jewellery. Rubies, sapphires and diamonds are routinely removed, repolished or recut and returned to the trade. Most customers never realise this. A good stone does not stop being good because it has had a previous owner.

Lab-grown stones can also be a sensible choice, but growing a stone in a factory does not make it impact-free. Energy, manufacture and transport still count. We would rather explain the options properly than attach a green label to whichever one is easiest to sell.

The planet does not need another drawer full of cheap jewellery. It could probably make much better use of the jewellery already in yours.

Show us what’s in the drawer

Jewellery does not become cheap by magic.


Too much of the cheap jewellery imported into Britain comes at a human cost—unsafe conditions, underpaid workers, even child labour. Somewhere, somebody’s time, materials or wages have been squeezed. That is how very low prices are achieved.


At KETCH, some work is carried out in our Tunbridge Wells workshop. Other jobs go to trusted specialist craftspeople in Hatton Garden, including Roger Leigh, shown here at his bench. We are proud to support British manufacturing, pay proper trade prices and work with people whose skill and standards we know.

We are proud to support British manufacturing, pay proper trade prices and work with people whose skill and standards we know.

Buying from a British supplier does not necessarily mean that an item was made in Britain, so we look beyond the label. We avoid anonymous ultra-cheap marketplaces and suppliers whose materials or manufacturing cannot be properly established.

When you choose KETCH, you are paying for skilled work done properly, by people who are paid properly.

VINTAGE, ANTIQUE AND PRE-OWNED JEWELLERY

Once they’re melted down, they’re gone.

Every week, old jewellery is broken up for its stones and metal or simply melted down. To some people, that is all it is worth. Once those pieces disappear, no one is making them again.

I see the workmanship, the wear, the strange little details and the human history held inside them. Even when the original story has been lost, the fact that a piece has survived still matters. To the right person, it is more than scrap. It can be a badge of honour, a keepsake or something approaching a sacred object.

That is also why I volunteer with the jewellery team at Tunbridge Wells Repair Café. People bring in pieces with very little monetary value but enormous sentimental weight. They deserve to be treated with the same care and respect as expensive jewellery.

The pre-owned collection is chosen in that spirit. Each piece is selected for its design, workmanship, character or history, then inspected, cleaned and repaired where necessary before it is offered for sale.

There will never be another one with exactly the same wear, history and story.

See what survived
Antique c.1900 9ct Gold Banded Agate Brooch – 12.3g - RK Jewellery Designs

What survives is usually made properly in the first place.

Old jewellery survives for a reason. There was enough metal, skill and thought in it to make restoration worthwhile. That is the same standard I apply to new work.

A new piece should still make sense after years of wear. It should have enough substance to be refinished, settings that can be rebuilt, and a design that does not rely on a passing fashion.

KETCH jewellery is made in gold, platinum and silver, in small numbers or to order, and hallmarked by a UK Assay Office where required. It is made with the expectation that it will be worn, maintained and eventually handed on.

Wear is part of a piece’s life. Good construction means it can be properly restored when the time comes.

Shown: a one-off gold spiral ring set with dendritic agate, moldavite and Madeira citrine.

When nothing already made feels quite right.

Some people arrive with a finished idea. Others bring an inherited stone, an old ring, a photograph, or simply a clear sense of what they do not want.

Every new KETCH design begins here, whether it becomes a one-off commission or part of a very small collection. Robert develops the piece with you, working through the design, materials and practical details before anything is made.

Where useful, you can see CAD drawings, rendered images or a 3D-printed model first. That means proportions, fit and appearance can be considered properly before precious metal and stones are committed.

The result should feel personal without becoming impractical, and distinctive without relying on novelty for its own sake.

Have a stone, an old ring, a sketch or only the beginning of an idea? Send Robert a photograph or a few details on WhatsApp. He’ll explain what is practical, give you an early indication of cost and suggest the sensible next step. The initial conversation is free and there is no obligation.

Ask Robert about your idea