A jeweller who once ran a busy workshop in Farnham’s Downing Street is still designing and making bespoke pieces at the age of 80, after former customers began getting back in touch.

John R. Fox, whose shop at 41 Downing Street traded from 1998 to 2006, has brought his business online after discovering that many of his old clients had assumed he had retired.

The jeweller continues to work on commissions, repairs and remodelling, alongside a long-standing workshop in Chichester.

“People were getting in touch saying how pleased they were to have found me,” he said. “Some had bought jewellery from me years ago and assumed I had retired. Others still had pieces I had made for them and wanted another commission, a repair or advice about remodelling something they no longer wore.”

John opened the Farnham shop in 1998, when he already had premises in Market Street, Guildford, and a separate workshop at Smithbrook Kilns in Cranleigh.

The business was growing and he wanted to bring more of the operation under one roof. The Downing Street premises offered retail and workshop space, offices upstairs and room to expand.

It became the main production centre for the business, with up to six craftsmen working at the benches at its busiest, making special commissions and stock for the Farnham and Guildford shops.

“It was a wonderful arrangement because almost everybody was under one roof and we worked as a very close team,” John recalled.

One particularly memorable order came from the John Lewis Partnership at the time of a commemorative hallmark.

The silver arrived by lorry and had to be brought into the workshop on sack trolleys. With a tight delivery deadline, John and his team worked virtually through the night, stopping only for fish and chips.

Some of the craftsmen stayed over, grabbing a few hours’ sleep on the floor before starting again.

But John said his fondest memories were of the people he met during his years in Farnham.

He often worked in the shop on Saturdays, sitting down with customers to discuss exactly what they wanted made. Many became loyal clients and some became friends.

The business continued to expand into wholesale trade and later opened a shop in Winchester.

John closed the Farnham premises in 2006 as he began to condense the business ahead of eventual retirement. He moved the retail side into a Guildford High Street shop, which continued trading until 2016.

By then, however, he was still enjoying the work too much to stop altogether.

His route into jewellery had been an unconventional one. In 1997, while between careers, he enrolled in evening classes at the local adult education centre in Guildford after telling someone how much he enjoyed turning two-dimensional materials into three-dimensional objects.

He went on to continue his training at Sir John Cass in London, developing an interest in proportion, construction and the Golden Section.

One of his early creations was a 1/12th-scale silver deck chair which folded up and down. He entered it for an exhibition at Goldsmiths’ Hall in about 1998, where it attracted national press attention.

A fellow craftsman later introduced him to diamonds, opening up a fascination with gemstones and the possibilities of designing around stones of different colours, characters and histories.

“So I suppose I became a jeweller first because I loved making things, and then stayed one because the materials themselves became endlessly interesting,” he said.

Today, John continues to work privately with clients, creating new pieces and giving older jewellery a second life.

One recent commission involved transforming a traditional three-stone diamond bar brooch into a pendant and a pair of matching earrings, allowing the owner to retain the diamonds in pieces she would wear.

“That is one of the parts of the business I particularly enjoy,” he said. “Often the jewellery matters very much to the owner, but it simply isn’t being worn. The challenge is to preserve what matters and turn it into something they can enjoy again.”

The same personal approach applies to new commissions.

“Most bespoke work starts with a conversation,” John said. “Someone may have an idea, an inherited stone, an old piece of jewellery or sometimes nothing more than a vague thought. We work it out together.”

His website now features established designs, bespoke commissions and examples of restoration and remodelling, including his distinctive Ballerina ring.

John said he was particularly amused to discover that the Farnham Herald is now based almost directly opposite his former shop.

He continues to travel regularly between France and England, carrying out some work himself and working closely with the Chichester workshop he has used for many years.

Former customers and new clients can find him at www.johnrfox.co.uk.