Our Story
From One Bay
Elsa Gray is a jewellery workshop in South Africa. The collections are named for whatever is within an hour of the door — the Keurbooms river mouth, the Tsitsikamma forest, the timber shed on the edge of town.
It is a small operation and deliberately so. The person who draws a piece is usually the person standing there when it comes out of the mould, and if something is wrong they know before you do.
How We Work
We work slowly, in small numbers, close to the sea. A piece leaves the bench when it feels finished, which is not the same as when it is due.
That bench is in South Africa, and it is the same bench for everything — our own work and the components we make for other South African houses. More about the workshop.
Craftsmanship
Everything is made by hand at one bench in South Africa. Nobody here makes a hundred of anything, and nothing gets signed off by someone who did not watch it happen.
Materials
Every diamond and every coloured stone we set is ethically sourced. Most of our silver is Silnova, an alloy made entirely from recycled precious metal. If you want to know where a particular stone came from, ask us.
Design
We design for wearing, not for a safe. A piece should survive a beach walk, a wedding and thirty years in a drawer, and still be worth resizing for someone else.
"Jewellery is more than just an accessory; it's a memory, a feeling, and a piece of art you carry with you."— Svetla Mckenzie, Founder