Looking after your jewellery: longevity and durability

Jewellery is precious—both in the sense of material and emotional value. A jewellery piece often marks a significant time in your life, bringing the joy of those memories with you throughout the years to come. Whether an expression of love, a gift from a friend, or to celebrate a milestone, a bespoke jewellery item will maintain its sparkle for a lifetime, given correct care and consideration.

For example, while there are some gemstones and metals that can be worn everyday, there are some that should be worn a little less often, with a little more care. Gold, platinum and silver are all metals that can stand the tests of time, and be worn everyday without much threat of damage. Silver, however, is softer than its two metal counterparts, and should be worn with some precaution if set with stones.

Ironically, the storing of your jewellery is one of the most key elements to the longevity of its wear. As different gemstones have varying degrees of hardness, if housed together, harder gemstones have the potential to scratch your softer pieces. To avoid this damage, it is best to store your jewellery pieces in soft-lined compartments separately, keeping any fastenings closed so as to not tangle or catch on other pieces. Furthermore, it is best to store jewellery away from direct sunlight, dust and moisture to lessen the affects of oxidisation in metal.

At Laurisha Jewellery we use our gemstone knowledge and experience to guide us towards creating bespoke jewellery that is beautiful, but also wearable and durable. Whilst we do our best to create the most suitable setting and design for a gemstone, there are still some important ‘do’s and don’ts’ to make sure your jewellery stands the test of time.

Although all jewellery pieces vary in their needs, the first general rule of all jewellery is to remove it during hands-on activities—especially rings. Gardening, cleaning the dishes, exercising and moving furniture are some examples of activity your jewellery pieces might not appreciate being worn for. In similar fashion, jewellery should not be worn while swimming or cleaning. While chemicals used in cleaning and swimming pools can discolour and strip the metals of your item, Kim Kardashian proved to us that swimming with jewellery can prove a traumatic experience—after losing one of her $75,000 USD diamond earrings during a swim in the pacific ocean, its safe to say that some catastrophes can be averted by simply leaving your jewellery in a safe spot before you take a dip.

Lastly, lotions, toothpastes and other harsh products can ruin the finish on your necklaces, rings and bracelets, causing them to discolour and fade in brilliance. This fact is especially true for silver items, which can tarnish much quicker under this treatment. As opposed to most articles you’ll find online, the truth about toothpastes is that it is often far too harsh to be used on most jewellery, owing to the presence of tiny granules that can scratch and corrode the surface of your gemstones and metals.