All That Glitters is back for 2022 – meet the line up of contestants here.
The search for Britain’s next up-and-coming jewellery star returns for a second series, hosted by Katherine Ryan.
Across six weeks, judges – jewellery world titan Dinny Hall and jewellery royalty Shaun Leane – will set a series of challenges. At the end of each episode they will decide who has earned the coveted title of Jeweller Of The Week – and who will be leaving the competition.
All That Glitters airs Thursday nights at 9PM on BBC Two.
All That Glitters 2022 contestants
Bonnie
Age: 40
From: Birmingham
Job: Jeweller and metal technician
Instagram username: @troubled_maker
Says Bonnie: “I have always been creative, I studied Fine Art at Uni and would make jewellery as presents for people, and that just took over everything after I graduated. I realised that it was a great way to connect with people, and it was a fantastic medium for self-expression. I’m not conventionally trained and I’ve not done an apprenticeship, I’ve tried to shadow people, make friends and look over people’s shoulders. Eventually I did go on to do a Masters in jewellery and I met my husband there about 12 years ago, so now I’m married into jewellery.”
David
Age: 60
From: Chichester
Job: Jeweller and stained-glass window maker
Instagram username: @davidjlillyjewellery
Says David: “In 2017 I went on a medicine walk – where you go out walking whilst contemplating a question – and the idea is the answer that comes to you on the walk. My question was, what should my work be? And the answer that came back was monolithic. I started working on big copper vessels but became disconnected with the work, so I took the scrap pieces of metal using the same technique and did it in miniature. Suddenly I discovered I was making jewellery. It was only when I started creating my first collection in silver rather than copper that it suddenly became clear what monolithic was: it wasn’t the size, it was the shape.”
Emma
Age: 45
From: Leeds
Job: Jewellery school owner and teacher Emma
Instagram username: @emma.white.jewellery
Says Emma: “My nan was a real glamour puss. She had this amazing jewellery box full of 60s crystals and everything sparkly and beautiful. I used to love to have a rummage through there. My mother is also of that ilk, she used to make necklaces with us and trawl all the gothic shops. I ended up at art college in school. When I went to the jewellery department, I felt like I had come home.”
Jack
Age: 35
From: Bristol
Job: Jeweller
Instagram username: @jackmitchelljewellery
Says Jack: “I didn’t do very well in school, so when I was 17 years old I did an apprenticeship to be a goldsmith. My dad also did it, which is another reason why I might have got into it. ”
Nyanda
Age: 49
From: East London
Job: Goldsmith
Instagram username: @soulvisionary_jewels
Says Nyanda: “I’ve always been creative and interested in drawing and photography. I was always interested in jewellery, but I didn’t think humans made it. I know that sounds really stupid, but you just buy jewellery! I met a lady when I was young and she was the first person I saw making drill bits and that’s how I discovered it. I think it’s something you can do from home, I don’t need a studio.”
Piers
Age: 25
From: Kent
Job: Jeweller who works in an antique jewellery store
Instagram username: @pierscarpenterjewellery
Says Piers: “We were going through family photographs the other day and I was a baby – maybe three or four – and I always had some sort of chain or necklace on. It started before I actually knew it! I had a piece of jewellery made when I was 12 or 13 in my local jewellers, and I suppose that sparked my interest. My mum knew the guy who owned that shop and I worked there for five or six years before the jeweller took me on and taught me.”
Steve
Age: 29
From: London
Job: Jeweller
Instagram username: @road_from_damascus
Says Piers: “I was in Damascus, Syria when the war broke out and I had to flee at the age of 20. I walked across Europe on foot up to France. It was in the Calais Jungle refugee camp that I discovered jewellery making. When I was there, I made myself a few pieces of jewellery from random materials like nails and wires and whatever waste items I could find there. I was also working with the volunteers at the time, helping out in the in the camp, and one of them noticed what I was wearing and it turned out that she was a silversmith. I was interested in silversmithing and so she introduced me to it, and that was my introduction really to jewellery making.”
Tianne
Age: 25
From: Berkshire (originally East London)
Job: Stone setter
Instagram username: @tsfinejewellery
Says Piers: “My dad was a goldsmith. I remember going into the workshop with him as a young child and then going in when I got older, that was what started my journey.”
All That Glitters airs on BBC Two from Thursday, 25 August.
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