Stephen Webster MBE (born 1959) is a British jewellery designer best known as founder of his eponymous jewellery brand.

Biography

Born in

Gravesend, Kent Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it ...

, Stephen Webster was educated at

Gravesend Grammar School Gravesend Grammar School is a selective grammar school with academy status located in Gravesend, Kent, England. The school accepts boys at age 11 by examination accepting a cohort of the top 15-20% and boys and girls at 16, based on their GCSE ...

and later at the Medway College of Design (now the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester). After completing his training under Tony Shepherd (himself a former Prime Warden of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths), Webster worked as a craftsman for several established London design houses. Among many highly regarded commissions was the honor, on two occasions, of setting the De Beers Diamond Stakes Trophy. After receiving the De Beers honour in 1982 (an accreditation that marked Webster's official passage into the fine jewellery trade) Webster relocated to Canada to design for an independent jeweler. Following a brief return to the UK in 1984, Webster identified a potential market for his jewelry in California. Webster returned to London in 1989 to establish Stephen Webster Ltd. The brand currently has over 200 points of sale worldwide and flagship stores in London, Beverly Hills, Moscow, St Petersburg and Kiev. In 2007, Webster was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from the University for the Creative Arts, and in 2013 Webster was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(MBE) in the New Year Honours for services to training and skills in the British jewellery industry. In 2015, Webster published his autobiography ''Goldstruck: A Life Shaped by Jewellery''. The book features photography by

Rankin Rankin may refer to: Places Australia *Division of Rankin, an electoral district in the Australian Federal House of Representatives, in Queensland Canada *Rankin Inlet, Nunavut *Rankin Inlet Airport, Nunavut * Rankin River, Ontario * Rankin Locat ...

and

Amelia Troubridge Amelia Troubridge (born 1974) is a British photographer. Biography Troubridge read American studies at Middlesex University and State University of New York at New Paltz discovering the work of Dorothea Lange and the New Deal photographers. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Stephen Living people English jewellers British jewellery designers Members of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Gravesend Grammar School People from Gravesend, Kent 1959 births