Modernising the locket for a new generation

“What would life look like from inside a sherbet disc? That’s what I was thinking about,” says Sheherazade Goldsmith, gesturing at a rabbit-shaped glass jar filled with brightly coloured sweets in her new flagship store in Belgravia. “And this is it, apparently!”

Inspired by the London jewellery designer’s childhood memories of visiting a pick ‘n’ mix sweet shop near her grandmother’s house in west London, the space has the whimsy and painstaking attention to detail of a Wes Anderson film, with candyfloss-pink onyx marble plinths, Helle Mardahl’s bulbous Bon Bon glass lighting in sorbet hues and Damien Hirst’s polka dots decorating the walls. “I wanted it to be a place where you can feel the craftsmanship and quality but at the same time, was still very playful, because, you know, fun things make you happy,” says Goldsmith emphatically. “They just do.”

It’s a philosophy that sums up Loquet, the fine jewellery brand Goldsmith launched, with Laura Bailey, in 2013. The brand’s signature pendant reimagines the Victorian locket as a clear sapphire crystal vessel that can be opened and filled with an assortment of miniature sweet-like charms, from birthstones and bejewelled clovers to cheery rainbows and lollipops. The idea came to the former journalist and author after her son, James [with former husband, and onetime UK environment minister Zac Goldsmith] gave her a transparent perspex pendant filled with tiny, pressed flowers that he’d found at a fair. Annoyed by her big charm bracelet, which would constantly clank against the keyboard as she was writing, she had the idea of combining the two. “I suddenly thought, wouldn’t it be nice if you could fill [the pendant] with your charms instead? And with lockets, you generally keep what’s nice hidden, so I loved the idea of being able to see into it, like it was a window into you.”

Charms have long been worn as a way of signifying milestones or loved ones and telegraphing our passions: Queen Victoria wore a charm bracelet strung with nine heart-shaped lockets until her death in 1901, each filled with a lock of hair from one of her nine children. Loquet builds on this tradition by encouraging customers to curate heirlooms that reveal something about their wearers.

“One of the things I always found really interesting about the Victorians is that they spent a lot of time engraving things, and you always wondered what those initials were for or what that date signified,” says Goldsmith, whose love for Victorian jewels was kindled by her uncle, a jeweller in Grays Antique Market. “I feel like with the charms, they’re all telling little stories about somebody’s life. It’s like their individual footprint.”

While lockets have traditionally been seen as tokens of affection, the majority of Loquet’s customers are women buying for themselves, says Goldsmith, from mothers marking the birth of their children to lawyers celebrating victories. “When we started, there was kind of a stigma to buying something sentimental for yourself and that’s totally flipped on its head,” she says.

The rise of the “self-gifting” movement in fine jewellery has also dovetailed with Goldsmith’s embrace of her more whimsical, childlike sensibilities. Having started the business with a first collection of simple 9k gold round lockets, she has since introduced more colourful and complex designs, all handcrafted in ateliers in Italy and Hong Kong. Current styles include the best-selling Amate and baguette lockets set with diamonds (£1,800), 18k Heirloom styles encrusted with a kaleidoscope of precious gemstones (£6,800) and playful cloud and moon-shaped pendants edged with enamel borders in pop colours (£5,800), as well as locket rings and bracelets.

“I was quite shy about it when I first started because I hadn’t trained as a jeweller, but as I’ve grown in confidence and found my voice, everything has become bigger and bolder and more fun,” says Goldsmith.

It’s a move that seems to be resonating with customers. While the company doesn’t disclose figures, its revenues have grown by more than 42 per cent in the past four years, buoyed by the pandemic-era jewellery boom for sentimental and custom pieces, says Goldsmith. Loquet now has more than 20 stockists around the world including Liberty London, Broken English in New York and LA, and Lane Crawford in Hong Kong, (the UK and the US are the brand’s biggest markets) as well as the newly opened London flagship on Elizabeth street.

“Loquet is definitely not a fashion piece of jewellery,” says Goldsmith. “It’s something that people purchase that grows with them. It’s why we have customers returning, who are either upgrading from a locket or buying more charms, because as your life evolves, how you feel about things evolve and so you find something else to add.”