Legendary British Jeweller Annoushka Ducas MBE Shares a Glimpse Into Her 9-5

In the world of British fine jewellery, few names are as instantly recognisable—or as quietly influential—as Annoushka Ducas MBE. Since launching her eponymous brand in 2009, the designer has built a loyal following for jewellery that feels personal, expressive and genuinely wearable. From playful charms to bold gold designs, her pieces are made for women who like their luxury to fit seamlessly into their everyday lives, winning her high-profile fans including Kate Middleton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rihanna and Emma Watson.

Born into a family of jewellers, Ducas grew up surrounded by precious stones and craftsmanship—but her approach has always felt refreshingly modern. Her background in marketing, combined with an instinctive understanding of how women actually want to live, made her perfectly poised to create jewellery that moves easily between work, weekends and special occasions. She first co-founded cult British brand Links of London—that’s credited with bringing contemporary fine jewellery to a wider audience—before forging her own path with her eponymous label. Today, her London-based business is driven by storytelling, meaningful design and a belief that jewellery should be worn, enjoyed and never kept just for best.

Here, Annoushka Ducas MBE shares what life really looks like behind the scenes of her nine-to-five—from daily routines and creative habits, to the important lessons she’s learned along the way.

I can’t start my morning without… A cup of hot water infused with lemon and ginger. The water has to be tepid rather than boiling, which I’ve learned is much kinder to your system first thing in the morning. And whenever I can, I follow it with my Tibetan exercises: twenty-one repetitions of five movements. I started practising them a few years ago, and they’ve become a quiet ritual that wakes everything up and keeps my body as supple as possible before the day takes off.

I’m usually in a tearing hurry in the mornings, so I tend to decide what I’m going to wear the night before. My day can vary between time in the studio and meeting clients in my bespoke space, and what I wear needs to work for both. I always think about how my jewellery will sit on an outfit, because I do a lot of stacking with necklaces and bracelets. Whatever I choose has to show that off properly. And because I often go straight from the office to meetings or dinner without time to go home, I rely on a great pair of earrings to elevate whatever I’m wearing in an instant.

My studio essentials are… Perfect light, fresh flowers, a scented candle and a beautifully curated playlist—in an ideal world, that is. But the truth is, no two days look the same. More often than not, I’m rushing between meetings with several projects on the go and a notepad that’s never quite where I left it. What I do rely on are the tactile things: trays of stones, wax models and half-formed ideas scattered across my desk. The studio comes alive when my incredible team and I are all around the table, sparking ideas off each other. So, while I love the fantasy of the perfectly styled studio, the real essentials are movement, materials, my team—and the creative chaos that keeps everything alive.

After work, I unwind by… Running a hot bath with a beautiful bath oil. My friend Cath Kidston has created a new brand called C.Atherley, and her oils are particularly wonderful. There’s nothing more soothing than a fragrant bath to mark the end of the day and ease out of work mode. After that, I often listen to Desert Island Discs—it’s actually where I found the inspiration for my own podcast. It’s the perfect way to settle my mind before bed.

I’ve always believed that jewellery is most powerful when it holds a story, so my inspiration usually begins with life itself… The places I travel, the objects I collect, the people I meet, and those small moments that unexpectedly stay with you. I’m very magpie-like and am constantly finding inspiration, often from something as simple as the curve of a leaf, a texture of a sweet or a line in a poem.

Every collection begins with a narrative and a series of sketches. We pair those hand sketches with digital modelling to explore movement, scale and structure in ways we couldn’t before. I work very closely with our workshops—many of whom I’ve collaborated with for over twenty years—to refine each piece until it feels effortless on the body. I’m obsessed with how a piece feels on the body: jewellery should be lived in, not stored away, so we refine again and again until the piece has the perfect balance of beauty, craftsmanship and ease.

After the success of Links of London, I genuinely didn’t think I’d return to jewellery… But over time, I found myself looking for something I couldn’t find: an independent place to buy fine jewellery for myself— pieces designed by a woman, with a sense of ease, playfulness and personality, rather than the traditional, rather aloof experience the industry was known for. I also felt a strong pull to work in fine materials; I was excited by the creative possibilities of gold, colour and precious stones, and by the idea of building a fine-jewellery brand that felt modern, warm, and full of joy. That became the spark for Annoushka: a desire to bring craftsmanship and creativity together in a way that felt playful, expressive and deeply personal.