The most treasured pieces of jewellery are rarely the newest. They arrive with a story: a grandmother’s ring, a pendant chosen to mark a milestone, or a brooch that celebrates a life well lived. They are made to be worn, kept, and passed on.
In South Africa, that idea carries a wider significance. Much of the gold and platinum mined here has historically left our shores as raw material, while the skills, jobs, and value generated by turning it into finished jewellery have gone elsewhere. Beneficiation – transforming those resources into finished products locally – offers another way forward. Through the work of two South African jewellery designers, that possibility takes tangible form.
Posterity, by Beaudell
Esther Boshoff’s love of jewellery began with her grandmother’s collection and the stories in each piece. Restoring heirlooms for another generation drew her towards the craft. Sixteen years and several PlatAfrica awards later, the founder and lead designer of Beaudell is opening a second home for the brand at 43 Bree Street in Cape Town.
The new studio launches alongside Posterity, Beaudell’s first range of everyday fine jewellery, designed to be worn and loved today and passed down in years to come. Its opening chapter, Shweshwe, translates the geometry and rhythm of South Africa’s iconic textile into fine jewellery. Pieces featuring natural diamonds and gemstones are crafted in 18kt gold or 950 platinum, while stone-free designs use 24kt gold and 999.9 pure platinum.
For Esther, sustainability begins before a piece is designed. Where possible, clients’ inherited pieces are reworked into something new, giving existing materials a second life. If new metal is needed, it is sourced exclusively through MetCon – including provenance-marked platinum. The result is a chain of production that connects South African precious metals with local design.
“Every new Beaudell piece is either reborn from a client’s own inherited gold, platinum, and diamonds, or built from metal sourced through MetCon, so the sustainability story starts before the piece is even designed,” says Esther.
The Amanda Dambuza Collection
For entrepreneur, author, and Vastly Sage founder Amanda Dambuza, jewellery became a way to explore how life’s difficult chapters can shape what comes next. Created in collaboration with Nungu Diamonds, her collection takes inspiration from kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. Rather than concealing the cracks, the technique makes them part of the object’s beauty.
In Amanda’s collection, fine seams of gold trace across black ceramic around a natural diamond. The first pieces include a pin, pendant, ring, and earrings, with more designs planned. “This collection lives in that space between what happened to us and the women we chose to become, in spite of it all,” she says.
Launched on 9 October at the Vastly Sage Gala Dinner, the collection’s debut included a meaningful gesture. Each of the 32 women featured in Leading with Grace: A Soul Speak Anthology received a Legacy Pin, celebrating individual journeys while recognising the strength of stories shared across generations.
Keeping value close to home
Behind both collections is MetCon, a South African company working with local jewellers to bring designs to life in African gold and platinum. Its role extends beyond supplying metal: it supports a local value chain that helps keep materials, skills, and value in South Africa.
“When a South African designer creates in South African gold and platinum, and a South African chooses to own it, the value of our metals stays where it belongs,” says Grant Neville Crosse, MetCon’s managing director.
That’s the promise of beneficiation: not simply extracting a resource, but building the skills, livelihoods, and finished products that give it value beyond the mine.
