There is a small moment most of us know well: standing at the mirror before a workday, wondering whether a piece reads as too much for the room you are walking into.

There is a small moment most of us know well: standing at the mirror before a workday, wondering whether a piece reads as too much for the room you are walking into.

There is a small group of pieces most of us never really take off. A chain that has lived against the skin so long it feels like part of it, a bangle that goes on with the morning coffee and comes off at the basin…

In the early weeks of a new baby, almost everything arrives addressed to someone who cannot yet say thank you. The babygros, the soft toys, the tiny socks all land for the child, and rightly so.

Open most jewellery boxes and you find the same thing: a tangle of pieces bought on a whim, and three or four favourites that get worn almost every day.

There is a particular freedom in a small bag and a long trip ahead, and a particular irritation in untangling a knot of chains on a hotel bed at midnight.

There is a particular morning most of us know well. You are half dressed, the day is already running ahead of you, and you reach into the drawer for whatever you wear without thinking.