Unloved, broken or fallen out of fashion jewellery donated to one Royal Trinity Hospice charity shop is finding a whole new lease of life thanks to the creative ingenuity of the team there.

Beads, stones, and even iconic brand logos from items donated that may be too far worn to be sold are being turned into new jewellery in our Fulham shop and are proving hugely successful.

Whilst the staff member has chosen to remain quietly anonymous, her efforts and skills to reimagine and then recreate unique one-off pieces have become stand-out collections showcased on the shop floor. Customers have been actively seeking out her new designs.

What was once broken, missing or ‘odd’ has become reimagined, restrung or regrouped.

By taking the approach of repurposing broken jewellery donations, our Fulham shop is fulfilling Trinity’s sustainability ambitions, as part of the award-winning brand mission to be London’s answer to sustainable fashion.

To date, over 50 individual ‘new’ pieces of jewellery from broken donations have been recreated raising in excess of a thousand pounds in just a year.

Examples of repurposed jewellery include turning beads from a company that had supported the shop some years ago into a new pearl necklace which sold for £120, whilst a rewiring mission to salvage some semi-precious stones saw two new agate necklaces recently sell for £40 each.

Using only basic tools but applying well-crafted new layouts and pairings of materials, the staff member explains it is her belief in recycling that has motivated her personal salvage and love of the preloved mission. Crediting going to jumble sales as a child with her grandmother gave her an eye early on for what was of value even if it had ended up there.  

“We got a ruined Chanel bag, it was in such bad condition, we really couldn’t do anything with it as it was beyond repair or the realm of ‘distressed’. Thinking about how we could honour this donation in some way, we decided to save the metal logo and make a necklace using that. The woman that bought the necklace was so, so pleased with it and couldn’t believe we had been able to do this.”

Shop Manager, George Rait says:

“I would like to give kudos to my wonderful colleague who takes broken jewellery home and spends hours creating new and beautiful works which can best be described as art. The fact that she does this in her own time, speaks of the love she has for her work and her commitment to finding interesting ways of rehoming broken donations in a truly sustainable way.

Her work has already contributed hundreds of pounds towards our financial aims and is gathering interest from customers. It is so exciting when she comes to work and does the 'reveal' of her latest pieces which we proudly display – before they are sold very quickly!”

Customers can find their own unique one-off Fulham design by popping into the shop. People wanting to donate broken and interesting jewellery can visit bring it into the shop.

Find our Fulham charity shop