ÌF
Ìbùkún F.
master caster · 23 yrs
"The cloth comes first. Then the metal listens to the cloth."
On a quiet street in Lagos, behind a cobalt-blue door, every Jewellery Banc piece begins its second life — born of the same fire that lit our grandmothers' bracelets.
Jewellery Banc opened in 2011, in Lagos. Fifteen years at the bench, a steady hand, and a stubborn belief that jewellery should be made by people who know the cloth, the stone, and the song that came with them — and held by people who understand what they are inheriting.
"We don't make things to be new. We make them so they can be old, well."
Recycled gold is melted in a clay crucible, poured into delft sand moulds carved by hand. The sand keeps the fingerprints of the maker.
Cast pieces are filed, hammered, and given their first patina. Each maker signs the inside with a small mark — a circle, a leaf, a bead.
Stones are sourced from members of the Nigerian Gemstone Association — onyx from Bauchi, tourmaline from Oyo. Set by hand, never glued.
Pieces are washed, polished with crocus cloth, then nested in a kòlòbó cedar case lined with aṣọ-òkè from Ilorin.
"The cloth comes first. Then the metal listens to the cloth."
"Onyx is patient. Tourmaline is in a hurry. You learn each one's temper."
"I sign the inside, never the outside. The piece belongs to the wearer now."
"A piece is finished when the polish disappears and only the gold is left."
"Each kòlòbó takes a day. The cedar has to dry before it can hold a soul."
"We don't make things to be new. We make them so they can be old, well."
100% recycled, refined in Lagos by Heraeus West Africa. We have not melted virgin gold since 2021.
Read the reportSourced from twelve named miners through the Nigerian Gemstone Association. Each stone is provenance-traced.
Read the reportHand-woven by the Olúmọ́ Cooperative in Ilorin. Twelve looms, sixty weavers, all paid above living wage.
Read the reportSalvaged from the Sopona Cathedral restoration in Ibadan. Each case carries a small brass plaque noting which beam it came from.
Read the report14 Akinyẹmi Street, Yaba · Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10–4. Tea is always offered.
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