Transcript
|Maria Doulton: I'm with David Morris on Bond Street, and this is a very British jeweller, and it has been run by the same family for three generations, which in itself is something quite unique. Phoebe Morris spoke to me about the history of the firm, as well as some of its more stellar moments.
Phoebe Morris: David Morris was founded a little over 50 years ago, by my grandfather, David Morris, and after a few years at the bench in Hatton Garden, he grew bored of designing jewellery for other people, so he set up his own brand, David Morris.
We do have quite a wonderful celebrity following; Elizabeth Taylor bought a beautiful emerald bracelet that she and Richard Burton designed together with my grandfather many years ago, and Lily Allen is a huge fan, she's borrowed from us on many occasions, including the BAFTAs, recently. We were approached, many moons ago, on the back of my grandfather's relationship with Roger Moore, to lend some pieces for a number of James Bond movies, starting with 'Diamonds Are Forever'.
Maria Doulton: This is a very exciting time to come and visit David Morris, because they are just in the final preparations for the jewels that are going to be shown at the Biennale des Antiquaries, which is the most important showcase for fine jewellery that comes around once but every two years. It's particularly nice, because they will be flying the flag for Britain.
Phoebe Morris: Biennale des Antiquaires is an international platform for people to see what we are doing at the moment, and hopefully show them some things they've never seen before.
Maria Doulton: Yes, I think we have great heritage for jewellery for Britain, and dozens of pieces in production at the moment, so there will be a lot of new items that will be showcased for the first at the Biennale des Antiquaires. I think it's going to be a great showcase for us.
Maria Doulton: It comes down to the exceptional stones that you'll find here, so I'm not just talking diamonds, but also the emeralds, the sapphires, the ruby, the conch pearls, they're all really unique, and I think this comes down to Jeremy Morris' uncanny ability to find that amazing stone.
Jeremy Morris: I don't sell stones on paper alone. The cuts of what we sell will always be better, the spread, the make, the size of the table, the shape of the stone, will always be better.
Erin Morris: Like a stone whisperer, he really knows what he can get out of a stone.
Maria Doulton: Definitely.
Erin Morris: Also he's quite fearless when he wants to re-polish something.
David Morris: It's all about colour, and everybody's got a different opinion on that, and the nuances are tiny. Pigeon's blood is a little bit dark, and maybe you'd be better with a slightly pinkier, purple, brighter, lighter, more exciting stone.
Phoebe Morris: My father has a very keen eye for coloured stones; he loves emeralds more than anything, and we have an amazing relationship with a lot of top emerald dealers, so we often get first choice of their new stones when they come in, and on the back of that I'd say we have one of the finest collections of emeralds on Bond Street.
Maria Doulton: What sets them apart is their incredible, daring use of very large, and very precious stones, that the son, Jeremy Morris, is not shy to re-cut and transform into the best possible colour and shape that he's after.
