“If there was a fear that jewellery was effeminate, that is gone,” says Jenny Huston. “Jewellery is now an expression of masculinity.”
Huston is a broadcaster and designer who founded the Irish brand Edge Only in 2014, creating unisex jewellery for men and women. Her timing was good. Spurred on by male influencers and jewellery-bedecked Hollywood stars, more and more men are choosing to buy rings not for their partners, but themselves.
“It was once associated with rock stars and celebrities, but younger men are getting braver,” says Huston. “It is the safest way for them to put a stamp of individuality on their outfit.”
A chain can function as a gateway drug, Huston believes. “Once they find chains, they want to wear everything.” Her best-sellers are chains and pins – her big lightning-bolt pins go all over the world. “There is less suit and tie, but more jacket so a pin makes it less boring”
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Josh Reynolds is an Irish fine jeweller trained in Ireland, Stockholm and Antwerp. He agrees that men are becoming bolder and more adventurous in their choices. A lot of his work is in designing and crafting bespoke engagement or wedding rings. He is known for incorporating his clients’ stories or family histories into those pieces. “My customers want a unique piece,” he says. When we talk, he is wearing one of his Flow rings inspired by the sand patterns on Dollymount beach.
For Huston and Reynolds, Irish identity plays into their designs, which reinterpret familiar heritage symbols such as Claddagh and Irish harp signet rings while also creating sharp modern pieces that appeal to a new generation.
Irish couturier Peter O’Brien is known for his deep love of jewellery and brooches. “I have always loved anything that twinkles – always old jewellery rather than modern,” he says. “I like old stones cut by hand from the 1880s and those cut for Catherine the Great and the French crown jewels – they are rare and were usually broken up and sold.”
His collection began in the early 1980s when he found “a little paste pin” in John Farrington’s Drury Street shop in Dublin “and then I was hooked”. His grandest piece is a mid-1800s Maltese cross bought at Adam’s auctioneers. “My hand shot up in ecstasy when I saw it, but I then had to pay much more than intended.”
His collection began in the early 1980s when he found “a little paste pin” in John Farrington’s Drury Street shop in Dublin “and then I was hooked”. His grandest piece is a mid-1800s Maltese cross bought at Adam’s auctioneers. “My hand shot up in ecstasy when I saw it, but I then had to pay much more than intended.”
What he wears all the time is a brooch with a little pair of wings and a heart in the centre. “I can’t bear rings or necklaces, just pins. And I like them on a peacoat or a tweed jacket rather than a grand velvet one. Jewellery is so personal.”
Another notable fan is Irish couturier Don O’Neill. On the judging panel for the Rose of Tralee in 2024 he wore a black Alexander McQueen tuxedo with a giant fuchsia pin hand-embroidered in India with Swarovski crystals from the same atelier used by Valentino.
He also sports a big necklace made by Brian de Staic, the Dingle-based jeweller associated with Celtic and Ogham silver pendants. “I have a blue lace agate pendant which I got in Sedona in Arizona – I wear it as my chakra and never take it off. There is bling on my jacket, my sweater and my shirt. I love to dress up. I think men should always wear bling – to reflect our gorgeous inner life.”
Photographer: Declan Kelly; model: Sam Mitchel, Morgan the Agency; clothing: Indigo & Cloth.
