For the husband and wife team behind Boru Jewelry, their work means everything to them, just like they hope precious Irish jewelry pieces mean everything to their customers.
Boru Jewelry, creators and suppliers of Dublin-made jewelry was founded in 2003 but its origins date back to the mid-1980s when the Irish company produced coat of arms jewelry. Their passion for Ireland has been at the company's center from the start.
Lisa O'Neill, Boru's Managing Director told IrishCentral "We pride ourselves in being authentic. We put so much effort into how the pieces will be made, into superior quality and finish."
Boru Jewelry: Made in Dublin.
Fittingly the company is named after Brian Boru, the last High King of Ireland, a patron of the arts and learning, who presided over a period of great craftsmanship of jewelry, manuscripts, and stone masonry.
Boru Jeweler is now a household name in Irish jewelry and had designed high-profile pieces for big names such as President Barack Obama and Whoopi Goldberg, as well as being used in the hit series Vikings.
While Boru Jewelry is available across the globe, at stores in the United States to Australia, its roots are very firmly set in Ireland. Lisa, the Managing Director, and her husband Paul, the Creative Director, are the engine that drives this global brand.
"Both Paul and I are Irish born and reared," explained Lisa. "We are both originally from Dublin and this is where we chose to bring up our family. We live on one side of the Dublin Mountains and our workshop is on the other side."
The Dublin jewelry brand recently launched its new Arian collection, named for Arianhod the goddess of the moon and stars, and the Solstice collection.
The Arian collection encompasses a number of various Irish symbols (trinity knot, and the Celtic knot, for example) with mother of pearl. The Solstice collection compasses the same Irish symbols but this time with an 18-karat yellow gold bead.
The love of the Irish and history is clearly in the air for Boru Jewelry.
"Our most popular products are our wedding rings. Many customers buy these not necessarily as wedding rings, but simply like the Celtic anecdotes associated with the pieces.
"Other popular ranges are our Ogham and heraldry product pieces. The Ogham (Celtic alphabet) pendants are personalized so the customer appreciates the custom work involved.
"Likewise, we produce family coat of arms rings, pendants and cufflinks bearing their family name or even club or association, anything can be incorporated in sterling silver or gold."
While the ancient symbols and history of this jewelry clearly appeal to Boru's global fanbase, the Dublin jewelers are always innovating and creating new exciting collections.
Boru Jewelry: Made in Dublin.
"There are many various ways we create new collections," Lisa explains. "Basically, once we have a theme or inspiration, the design process will dictate the ’how’ we will create, as it will determine whether we use CAD or direct handcrafting to create the prototype.
"There is always a combination of modern and old school techniques used to create our designs, as some things have to be done by hand! Once we agree on the prototypes, we create molds or produce special tooling to reproduce the pieces. Each piece is hand finished and goes through a very stringent quality control process in-house."
You can shop at Boru Jewelry and find out all about the company at www.borujewelry.com. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube. Retailers can contact Boru via [email protected].
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* Originally published on June 30, 2020. Updated in 2021.
