I am Pete, a one-person silversmith and gemmologist working at the bench at Flameworks Creative Arts Facility in Devonport, on the east bank of the Tamar. Every piece is designed by me, made by me on the same bench, and stamped with my own hallmark before it leaves the workshop. Bespoke commissions, remodels of inherited pieces, and full-day workshops where you make at the bench alongside me.
Silver and gold lead the bench, with platinum on commissions where the brief calls for it. The four lines below describe how I work, not a fixed menu. A consult at Flameworks turns the lines into a design.
Rings, pendants, earrings and bracelets in silver and gold, with whatever stone you bring or we choose together. The pattern is a design conversation first, then a second visit to collect the finished piece. Every commission is drawn by me and made by me on the bench at Flameworks, and every piece carries my own hallmark.
An inherited ring that no longer fits, mismatched earrings, an unworn locket. I pull the stones, work the metal where it makes sense, and rebuild the piece around the way you actually wear jewellery now. Most of the stones can be saved, and the ones that cannot get used somewhere else.
One day at the bench at Flameworks with me. Morning in copper to get the hands and the tools warmed up together. Afternoon in silver or gold, making a piece you take home that evening. £200 for one place, £370 for two, dates set by you. Email me three options and I will schedule the day.
The setting style that recurs across the gallery: a yellow-gold rim soldered around a stone seated in a silver bezel, mounted on a silver shank. Two metals, two solder joins, two heat profiles. Available on commissions and remodels where the stone will take it. The technique reads as one decision; on the bench it is two.
I came to jewellery the long way around, by way of a Gemmology BA at Plymouth College of Art and Design. That is the bit most people are surprised by: I started with the stones, not the metal. It changed the way I work. On a remodel I am thinking first about what the inherited stone will tolerate (heat, claws, the way it will sit against skin) rather than reaching for whatever setting is easiest.
For seven years I worked out of a small bench at the House of Marbles in Bovey Tracey. In 2023 I moved closer to home, to Flameworks Creative Arts Facility on Richmond Walk in Devonport, on the east bank of the Tamar. Flameworks is a working studio with fourteen resident artists. I share a building with lampworkers, ceramicists and metalworkers, and I teach the Jewellery course at the bench through the Plymouth Jewellery Group.
There is no second bench, no apprentice and no production line. Every piece I sell is one I drew, cut, soldered, set and hallmarked myself. That is the whole proposition. If you are buying a Peter Reeves piece, you are buying my hands at the bench, not a workshop's name on a label.
“If you have always had an idea for a piece of jewellery but have never seen anything like it, get in touch and we will bring your idea to life. I enjoy what I do and I hope you will enjoy your jewellery.” Pete, in the workshop blockquote
Look across the portfolio (the opal trilogy, the rhodolite ring, the rutile cabochon) and the same move keeps appearing: a yellow-gold rim soldered around a stone that is seated in a silver bezel, mounted on a silver shank. Visually it reads as one decision. On the bench it is two metals, two solder joins, two heat profiles. Gold and silver melt at different temperatures and the gold rim has to seat first without melting the silver bezel underneath. The Gemmology BA from Plymouth College of Art and Design matters here: I am picking joins and heat profiles around what the stone will tolerate, not the other way around.
Every finished piece carries my own registered sponsor's mark, struck before it leaves the workshop. In the UK that mark is filed with one of the assay offices and registers me, by name, as the maker. It is the single most useful trust signal a UK jewellery customer can read on a piece: it ties the work back to one pair of hands, not a workshop or a chain. If a piece I made twenty years from now turns up on a bench, the hallmark will still say who made it.
One day, 10:00 to 16:30, with an hour for lunch. The morning is in copper to warm the hands and the tools up together. The afternoon is in silver (and gold, if the design calls for it) and you leave at the end of the day with a piece you have made yourself, hallmarked alongside mine if it is finished.
The workshops run inside the Flameworks resident-artist programme, so you meet the other makers in the building (lampworkers, ceramicists, the metalwork bench next door) on the way in and out. Enclosed shoes and natural-fibre clothing, please — a bench with a torch on it is no place for synthetics.
I do not run a fixed calendar — dates are set by the people booking. Send me a few options and I will confirm one back.
Email Pete ↗Workshop enquiries also handled by Hannah at Flameworks for scheduling: 07921 103331.
Flameworks, 7 Richmond Walk
Devonport, Plymouth PL1 4LL
Phone · 07921 103331
Email · jewellery750@gmail.com
Flameworks Creative Arts Facility sits on Richmond Walk in Devonport, on the east bank of the Tamar, opposite Mount Wise and a short walk from the Royal William Yard. There is no shop sign at the door; every visit is by arrangement. Phone or email and we will find a slot.
Devon Open Studios. Three weekends every September, Flameworks opens for walk-in visitors: Saturdays and Sundays 10:00 to 16:00. The 2025 dates were 6 to 7, 13 to 14, and 20 to 21 September. Watch the Flameworks news page for the 2026 calendar.
Every commission starts with a conversation, in person at Flameworks where the bench, the stone tray and the sketch pad are all in the room. If you cannot get to Plymouth, we can start by phone or email and meet for the second visit. There is no charge for the first conversation.
Most bespoke rings and pendants take four to six weeks from the design conversation. Pieces that wait on a specific stone or a multi-metal bezel setup can take longer, and I will be honest about the timing when we talk. There is no rush on a piece you will wear for the rest of your life.
Most weeks the bench has at least one remodel on it. Bring the piece in and we will sit down with it: which stones can be reused, what the metal will support, what the new piece needs to do for the way you wear jewellery now. Often the second or third remodel for the same client is when the design really starts to feel right.
Silver and gold for almost every piece, with platinum on commissions where the brief calls for it. Stones can be anything you bring (an inherited ring, a sapphire from a great-grandmother) or chosen together from what I keep at the bench. The Gemmology BA matters here , on a remodel I am thinking first about what the stone will tolerate (heat, claws, chemical exposure), not what is easiest to set.
Yes. Every commission starts with a conversation at the bench at Flameworks where we sketch options against your hand or your existing piece. I do not work to a rigid template, so the first visit settles the direction together. If a design needs another look before I cut metal, we have another look. You see the finished piece in person before you pay the balance.
Most of my clients arrive without one. Bring the inherited piece, or a photo of something you have seen, or just the rough shape of what you are after. The consult is built for that: I have the moulding samples, the stone tray and the bench right there, so the design comes out of the conversation rather than out of a brief sent ahead.
Flameworks Creative Arts Facility is at 7 Richmond Walk, Devonport, on the east bank of the Tamar, opposite Mount Wise and a short walk from the Royal William Yard. The workshop is by appointment year-round: phone or email and we will arrange a slot. The whole studio opens for walk-in visitors across three weekends every September during Devon Open Studios.