Ashes Memorial Jewellery

26/10/2026

I've made the papers! 📰

A huge thank you to Jon Owen at Daily Focus for this lovely piece about The Golden Link, the book I'm writing about my great great grandfather, Samuel Usher.

In 1872 his firm, Harris & Usher, was making gold signet and mourning rings at 33 Upper Hockley Street in the Jewellery Quarter. Well over a century later, without a clue he'd ever existed, I was sat at a bench making memorial jewellery too. As I told Jon, it's almost like a work of fiction.

That's me with a stone Samuel laid in 1925. Yes, I was quite pleased to find it. 😄

Have a read here: daily-focus.co.uk/2026/10/jeweller-turns-remarkable-family-story-into-new-book

Julia x

23/10/2026

What a week at AMJ! 🎙️

A big thank you to Ryan and Liz for having me on the BRMB breakfast show this morning. There I was, headphones on, thinking how on earth did a jeweller from a woodland workshop end up here? 😂 If you missed it, I'll pop the listen back link in the comments.

And that wasn't even the end of it. Friday also involved not one but TWO lots of filming. I can't say much yet, but Banksy definitely had a lot to say about it. He's decided he's now the director, my agent and head of catering, and he's expecting a cut. 🐈‍⬛🎬 More on that soon… 👀

Thank you to everyone who has messaged, shared and listened this week. I've loved reading every single one. 🤍

Have a lovely weekend everyone. I'm off to put the kettle on and have a very long sit down. ☕

Julia x

22/10/2026

📻 Set your alarms (or at least pop the kettle on)…

I'm on BRMB's breakfast show, Ryan & Liz In The Morning, tomorrow (Friday) just after 8am. Normally the only ones listening to me at that time of the morning are Jesse, the AMJ office cat, or Banksy, the workshop cat, and that's only because they want feeding. 🐾

When I trained as a jeweller in Birmingham, I had no idea anyone in my family had done the same. Then I discovered my great great grandfather, Samuel Usher, was a jeweller in the Jewellery Quarter. And only a few weeks ago, I found out his firm made mourning rings, the Victorian version of the memorial jewellery I make today.

150 years later, I'd ended up doing exactly what he did, without a clue. Turns out it's in the blood. (Possibly also in the tea.) ☕

How to listen, wherever you are:
🌍 Online: brmbradio.com/player (just press play)
📱 On the free BRMB app
🔊 On Alexa: "Alexa, play BRMB"
📻 Around Birmingham: 89.1 FM or DAB

If I start waffling on about hallmarks, blame Samuel. 😄

The whole story is here if you fancy a nosy: ashesmemorialjewellery.com/pages/the-golden-link

Julia x

21/10/2026

19/10/2026

Can you believe we used to do filing? Actual paper, in actual folders. 😂

That's Sophie in my old workshop office when she was only little, very seriously helping me keep on top of it all. I'm not sure the system ever recovered. 🤍

She still comes to work with me in the school holidays. Sometimes that means a trip to the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, and sometimes it means lying on the workshop floor with Banksy, who she absolutely adores. The feeling seems to be mutual. 🐾

Last summer, on a long hot day, she had a go at making some jewellery of her own at my bench. Goggles on, gloves on, completely absorbed. ✨

If you've been following my Golden Link story, you'll know the trade skipped two generations in my family before it found me. My great great grandfather Samuel Usher made mourning rings in the Jewellery Quarter, the same streets Sophie now walks with me, and every piece I make still carries his hallmark.

So will Sophie be the next one? Who knows! But either way, these days in the workshop together are special, and I'm very lucky she still wants to come.

Did anyone else grow up helping out in a family business? What job did they give you? 👇

18/10/2026

I often get asked why I set up Healing Hearts, my free private group for anyone who's grieving.

The real reason is my lovely Granny Eunice. That's her standing next to me on the left, on mine and David's wedding day back in 2009, with our other grannies around us. (Yes, I look a little younger. It was a while ago! 😊)

She was a strong character, and I still miss her greatly. I know how hard that missing can be, and I didn't want anyone to feel they had to carry it alone. 🤍

Tonight I'm sending hugs to everyone who is missing someone. 🕯️

If you'd ever like a quiet place to talk, Healing Hearts is a special place where you can just be understood. The link is in the comments.

16/10/2026

A little bit of exciting news that I can't quite tell you properly yet.

Let's just say the story of The Golden Link is beginning to travel, and hopefully next week I'll be able to tell you a bit more.

For anyone who hasn't heard it, it's the story of my great great grandfather, Samuel Usher, a manufacturing jeweller on Vyse Street in Birmingham, and how I ended up in exactly the same trade without having the faintest idea he existed. Nobody in the family did either, until Great Uncle Dennis started digging into the family history and told my dad all about him. I was in my first term at jewellery school at the time.

Thank goodness for Dennis, who could not have picked a stranger moment to mention it. 😂

That's me and Dad at his grave, his hallmark up in the corner, and a ring he made.

I'll tell you the rest as soon as I'm able. 🤍

14/10/2026

This week I've had some new Google reviews come in, and I will always be incredibly grateful for these lovely reviews.

People come to me at the hardest times in their lives, and then they have taken time afterwards to write something really kind about the work that I create. That genuinely means the world to me. 🥰

Reviews matter enormously to a small business like mine, but it's more than that. Being asked to make these pieces is an honour, and after 25 years at the bench it still feels like one every time a parcel arrives. ✨

So thank you. To everyone who has trusted me with their ashes, their hair and their fingerprints, and to everyone who left a few words afterwards. I read every single one. 🤍

12/10/2026

10/10/2026

There's a quiet corner of Facebook that I don't talk about nearly enough.

It's called Healing Hearts. I started it years ago because through my work I speak to a lot of grieving people, and it became obvious how much people needed somewhere to talk honestly about their loss with others who genuinely understand it.

There are over 3,600 people in there now. Some post, some just read. Both are completely fine.

Nothing is for sale in the group and it isn't about jewellery. It's simply a private space to say how you're actually doing, on the days when "I'm fine" isn't true.

It's just had a bit of a facelift. New logo, new banner, a proper tidy up, and I'll be in there a lot more from now on.

If you're already a member, give me a wave in the comments so I know who's about. And if you'd like to join us, you're very welcome. 🤍

facebook.com/groups/1102600449874395