A necklace by this young British designer recently entered one of the world’s most glittering collections: the London museum’s jewellery gallery. This contains some 3,500 pieces dating from the Middle Ages to the present day, including diamonds worn by Catherine the Great of Russia, the emeralds of Joséphine de Beauharnais, Lady Mountbatten’s “Tutti Frutti” bandeau and a 17^th century Norwegian bridal crown. The V&A only accepts jewellery of the first water, clearly! It has to represent a particular style, period or technical feat – like this piece, consisting of stems and flowers cut from thin gold leaf linked with filaments, also in gold. It then takes on an aura with a wholly different dimension, as part of the panorama of history.