Any questions?
Charlie Pragnell, managing director of the jewellers Pragnell, shares his creative inspiration
Your aesthetic hero?
Leonardo da Vinci. He was a universal genius, the father of science, art and design, who made many discoveries in both anatomy and Nature and who conceptualised future creations such as flying machines and the parachute. He also happened to be one of the greatest painters to have ever lived. He embodies enlightenment.
Which book have you found inspiring?
The complete works of Oscar Wilde. I think his writing is very funny and many of his acute observations about the workings of society and social etiquette are still so true today. He was Anglo-irish, like my grandmother, Margaret, and I believe this gave him an original perspective on the culture of London society of that time. He was a champion of the Aesthetic movement who punctured pomposity.
A museum that has really impressed you?
The Uffizi in Florence, home of the Medici family’s paintings and sculptures.
What music do you work to?
I have spent a long time in my little office at the end of the garden over the past few weeks designing some new coloured stone jewellery, which has been a pleasure (we have recently found some wonderful sapphires). We have also been building a new website and, with much of the language and technical concepts new to me, I’m having to make a particular effort to concentrate. I have got into the habit of Soul/r & B playlists, which seems to do the trick.
Favourite Instagrammer?
Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok… it’s a moveable feast, but apart from my wife Emily’s Instagram, I don’t have a favourite.
What possession would you never sell?
Our beautiful tiara, which my wife wore at our wedding. It is an exceptionally fine natural pearl and diamond tiara made in the La Belle Epoque era, about 1895, and has been worn at two coronations.