Under siege from the developers: The craftsmen keeping JQ alive Exhibition takes a glimpse at an important part of city’s heritage that is under threat, as never before
THERE is so much that goes on in the Jewellery Quarter behind closed doors that shoppers never get the chance to see.
And these hidden heroes are doing their best to keep the Jewellery Quarter alive – because they are faced with a threat.
This area is ripe for city dwelling and the offers from developers wanting to turn their old workshops into smart apartments are getting harder and harder to refuse.
But these craftspeople hold their trades so dear that they’re fighting against the odds to fend off the gentrification of the area and protect the precious skills that have been passed down through generations.
Take Craig and Rebecca Struthers, a husband-and-wife team who hand make watches and restore vintage timepieces.
Struthers Watchmakers is based in the Deakin & Francis building, home to the oldest jewellers in the country.
“On a daily basis, we are noticing people going around with clipboards and have heard of people who have sold their factories for ridiculous amounts,” said Craig, who met Rebecca at Birmingham School of Jewellery.
“I don’t blame them really. If you are nearing retirement and struggling to compete with cheap jewellery made in the Far East and someone offers you £2million for your factory, you’re going to think about it.
“But it would be such a shame if the Jewellery Quarter ended up being mostly residential.
“There’s a great buzz to the place at the moment with all the craftspeople and the independent coffee shops and restaurants. But I do worry that the rents will become too expensive for them as well.”
Craig and Rebecca decided they wanted to capture a snapshot of the Jewellery Quarter today so it could be remembered this way for generations to come, whatever the outcome of developers trying to move in.
They work with all different craftspeople to ensure their watches, some of which take up to two years to make, are designed and built to the highest quality, using traditional methods.
Working with photographer Andy Pilsbury, they have gone behind the scenes and into the workshops of these toolmakers, engravers, enamellers, jewellers and chainmakers to photograph them at work.
The pictures are being shown in a free exhibition at Argentea Gallery on St Paul’s Square until tomorrow.
“It’s all about the unsung heroes, the people working behind closed doors who you don’t even know are there,” explained Craig, who uses tools that date back to the 1900s.
“One example is the man who makes the chains for our pocket watches. He used to work for a big company where there would be hundreds of them all making chains for pocket watches but the call for them has gone.
“When we asked him to make one for us the traditional way his eyes lit up and he said he’d love to.
“There’s been more of demand for them since.
“I don’t know if this is linked to Peaky Blinders but that programme has certainly put Birmingham on the map in a positive way, making it cool again.”
Another issue faced by artisans in the Jewellery Quarter is the passing on of skills.
Birmingham was known as the city of 1,000 trades, mainly due to all the factory workers that kept the Jewellery Quarter buzzing.
Once home to more than 30,000 craftspeople, only a few hundred now remain in the area but it is still Europe’s largest concentration of skilled jewellers and 40 per cent of all UK jewellery is made in just one square kilometre of inner-city Birmingham.
Craig says many young people today seem to like to design jewellery through computer-aided programmes but not to spend hours labouring over the making of it using their hands and traditional tools.
As a result, their designs are being manufactured overseas and he believes the items coming back to the city are not of such great quality.
Sadly, this means that some heritage skills are being lost.
And that’s why it’s so vital to celebrate the craftspeople that are keeping the Jewellery Quarter alive.
“In some ways, development has made the Jewellery Quarter a nicer place to work but I worry about how far it will go before the big chain companies move in,” said Craig.
“When this happens, it makes our