Hatton Garden Jewellers: The Heritage Behind Aurika Gems' Bespoke Jewellery

Tucked between Clerkenwell, Holborn and Farringdon, Hatton Garden is a short London street lined with diamond windows, jewellers' workshops and couriers moving between shopfronts. For well over a century, it has been the beating heart of Britain's diamond and jewellery trade. Aurika Gems is proud to call Hatton Garden home — and to build every bespoke piece we make on the craftsmanship this street represents.

The Origins of Hatton Garden

Hatton Garden takes its name from Sir Christopher Hatton, a courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. In the 1570s, Elizabeth granted Hatton a portion of Ely Palace, an old ecclesiastical estate on the edge of the City of London. Its gardens and orchards became known as "Hatton's Garden," and the name endured long after the palace itself was gone.

For nearly two centuries, the area remained fashionable and residential. Its shift into a jewellery quarter came later — and it came from craft.

How Hatton Garden Became London's Diamond Quarter

By the nineteenth century, jewellers, silversmiths, watchmakers, and gold and platinum traders began moving into Hatton Garden, drawn by nearby City institutions and the London Assay Office. Small workshops grew into a fully-fledged trading district as skilled cutters, setters and traders passed their craft down through generations. By the 1880s, dozens of precious stone dealers were trading on the street.

The opening of South Africa's Kimberley diamond fields in the 1870s accelerated the trade further, bringing rough stones to London for cutting, grading and setting. By the early twentieth century, Hatton Garden was established as the centre of the UK diamond trade — a position built and sustained by generations of skilled craftsmen training the next, workshop by workshop.

Through the Blitz, economic change, and the more recent rise of lab-grown diamonds, Hatton Garden has kept doing what it has always done: bringing skilled hands and fine stones together in one concentrated square mile.

Why This Heritage Still Matters

The value of Hatton Garden's heritage isn't nostalgic — it's practical. Within a few streets, you'll find diamond dealers, gemstone merchants, setters, polishers, engravers and valuers, all working close together, many trained by the generation before them. That density of skill is hard to find anywhere else in the UK, and it's the ecosystem Aurika Gems draws on for every bespoke commission.

Aurika Gems: Bespoke Jewellery Made in Hatton Garden

Aurika Gems was founded on a simple idea: jewellery marking life's biggest moments — an engagement, a wedding, an anniversary — deserves to be made, not just bought off a shelf. Working from Hatton Garden puts us at the source, drawing on the same setters, cutters and craftsmen who have served this street for generations.

Our bespoke process starts with a complimentary one-on-one consultation, where our jewellers get to know your style and guide you through cut, clarity, carat, setting and metal in plain English. From there, our design team builds a piece that's genuinely yours — a chosen setting (solitaire, halo, trilogy, vintage) paired with a diamond in your preferred shape, from round brilliant to emerald or marquise cut.

Sustainability sits alongside craftsmanship throughout. We offer both natural and lab-grown diamonds, all responsibly sourced and certified, so you can choose what fits your values without compromising on quality.

Book Your Bespoke Consultation

Hatton Garden has outlasted world wars, economic upheaval and entire shifts in how the world buys jewellery — by staying what it has always been: a place where craft is taken seriously. That's the tradition Aurika Gems carries forward with every commission.

Ready to start your own bespoke journey? Book a consultation with our Hatton Garden jewellers today.