3 Generations with Shetland Jewellery
Hi there, I’m Tricia and I’ve been a jeweller here for 6 (non-consecutive) years, but my story with Shetland Jewellery actually began way back in 1953, the year the company first started.
In 1953, Mr Jack Rae started a business called Shetland Silvercraft from his kitchen table. As things began to pick up, fortunately for Grandad, he needed some help; and for a local Weisdale boy at 17, Jim Moncrieff, recovering from having spent lots of time in hospital after losing a kidney, was taken on as the first apprentice of the company.
Being told he’d need a job with no heavy lifting probably didn’t sound ideal as a young man, but little did he know, it would lead him to a job that would one day span 3 generations of his family.
Fast forward to the 80s, the company is now well established, with a purpose-built workshop at Soundside and a good few more folk employed on the staff, and the Moncrieff family had grown by 4, My Granny Mimie, and their 3 children: Michael, Gwen and Carol. By this time all 3 bairns were in their teens, and Mam (Gwen) started coming to work at the Silvercraft in her summer holidays at 15, my uncle also did some work for the company in his holidays too.
Mam worked for the company on and off from then, leaving for various reasons but on maternity to have my 3 brothers and then I came along in 1995. Some of my youngest memories are of coming in with Mam when she was cleaning the workshop, always wanting to help (and probably being more of a hinderance!). This meant I often got to see what was going on in the workshop and is probably where my love for all things shiny began.
Move on again to 2012, I’d been working in a café in Lerwick, but was keen for a more creative career. Mam was back at the workshop, and suggested I come in and interview for a job, and I jumped at the chance! Kenneth had taken on the business from his father by then and the company had formerly changed to Shetland Jewellery as they were now doing far more than working in only silver. Kenneth was keen to take on another member of the family, so kindly gave me a chance and I started in August that year, also at 17, the same age as Grandad had been when he started. I loved getting to work with my Mam, my Godmother Shirley Macleod, who also worked for the company for many years, and most of the staff had worked with Grandad in the years before, so it was nice to hear a few stories and start learning the ropes.
After 30 odd years of intermittent working, Mam moved on from the company in 2016 for personal reasons, and the following year I’d gotten itchy feet and needed another change so off I went on to other pursuits for 6 years before I made my return. I feel incredibly lucky to work somewhere that really has a sense of coming home for me, it’s so familiar and I felt I slotted back into the team as if I’d never been away, I’d made friendships the first time around that had stayed too and it was so nice to be welcomed back so warmly. Things are definitely very different this time around in terms of the chances to learn more new things, no day is the same and I’m excited to see all of the things I’ll get the opportunity to create, using skills that have been passed down through generations, and new ways that I’m sure Grandad couldn’t even have imagined.
Grandad was with the company until his retirement at 65. It’s amazing to think of how many of the skills he was able to learn and then pass on to others, that we are still learning today, how many pieces he had a hand in bringing to life that we still make and seeing how many tools we still use that have his initial “J” engraved into them. To have dedicated his working life to this trade and then my Mam and myself being able to learn the skills he passed on, is a very cool thing to be a part of. Being able to use his tools and have many photos on our memory wall across the years he was here is also really nice, as Grandad sadly passed away in 2006, meaning I never got the chance to work with him or for him to see that I’d followed the family into the jewellery trade.
It’s truly humbling to be part of this legacy, continuing a tradition that not only connects me to my past but also inspires the future of Shetland Jewellery, as we create new pieces with the same craftsmanship and love that has been passed down through the generations.
As Grandad used to say “Just you do da best dat you can, and keep smiling!”
