SECTOR FOCUS: MANUFACTURING


A stylish link to local history T


BY JON GRIFFIN


hey are England’s oldest family jeweller, producing the world’s finest cufflinks for royalty and rock stars alike...but remain one of


Birmingham’s best-kept secrets. Deakin and Francis have survived world wars,


depressions, recessions, silver price crises and radically changing consumer tastes – and are still delivering the goods in style from their low-profile headquarters in the Jewellery Quarter. The management of this unique slice of Birmingham


manufacturing has passed on from original ancestor Charles Washington Shirley Deakin to its seventh generation, in the shape of brothers James and Henry Deakin, 230 years after the firm was first founded. The Deakin and Francis saga is packed with heritage


and history, from the atmospheric company boardroom where industrial pioneers James Watt, Matthew Boulton and their peers met to launch the Industrial Revolution, to the cufflinks supplied today to the likes of Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. But James Deakin says the business ethos has remained constant for 230 years – with quality at its heart. “We have been described as England’s best kept


secret – we knew that we were old and unique but didn’t realise we were England’s oldest family jeweller until we did the research. “We made our first cufflinks in the 1800s and have


a great reputation in the industry for quality. There are people who collect our cufflinks, people whose grandfathers wore our cufflinks. We are England’s oldest family jeweller and at the same time its youngest brand. “We are not mass produced but are very competitive


on price. The market is filthily competitive but feel we have a unique selling point. Our cheapest cufflinks are £100, we have got some for £45,000, we have a pair in Harrods for £13,000. We have sold handcuffs in Hong Kong for 45,000 dollars.” James, who learnt his trade at the Gemological


Institute of America in Santa Monica, California, before taking over at the helm with brother Henry on the retirement of father David, described manufacturing as his ‘passion.’ “Cufflinks are seriously cool. They are a


statement that you care, they are fun. If you go on a date with a good pair of shoes and cufflinks, you are pretty well armed. If you do not get cufflinks, you do not get Deakin and Francis. We are not in it for the quick buck, we are in for the long haul. “The trade is in the blood, we


absolutely love it. The market is tough but we are unique. Everybody is looking for something different, and we can offer something which is unique…we have the largest collection of precious metal cufflinks in the world.” The firm boasts a 23-strong workforce, with a


turnover of £2.5 million, exporting its hand-made products to the likes of the United States, Asia and elsewhere. Half of the workforce at the Jewellery Quarter offices is engaged in manufacturing, including highly skilled silversmiths and goldsmiths with decades of experience. Their Regent Place offices was once the


private home of steam pioneer James Watt and members of the Birmingham-based Lunar Society met within the confines of the current Deakin and Francis boardroom to discuss the industrial processes which were to change the world.


52 CHAMBERLINK APRIL 2016


It’s not unusual: James Deakin and some of the more atypical cufflinks produced by the company


Left: In the beginning: James Deakin with some of the blanks used by Deakin and Francis Right: Fashioning a masterpiece: one of the expert jewellers on the shopfloor at Deakin and Francis


And the firm has retained the Francis banner out of respect for former boss Captain Francis, who lost his life in the trenches in the First World War. “There are slices of history which will have been made


in this very building. Each generation has dealt with all sorts of challenges, from wars to recessions. Before Deakin and Francis there were Deakins making swords and some were supplied for the American Civil War. “Watt and Boulton used to meet in the boardroom


here once a month as the Lunar Society. Steam may have been invented in this room,” added James.


‘We made our first cufflinks in the 1800s and have a great reputation in the industry for quality’


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