Award-winning Welsh goldsmith behind royal commissions to retire

Nation.Cymru staff

A Welsh silversmith who made jewellery for the the Prince of Wales and has made countless national awards and medals is retiring

Tregaron gold and silversmith Rhiannon Evans will be retiring at the end of 2026. Rhiannon has made pieces for royalty, from the then Prince of Wales to the then Crown Princess of Japan.

She has made episcopal rings, crosses and Archbishop’s Morses for bishops and Archbishops of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of Salzburg and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. She has made countless national awards, including Eisteddfod crowns and medals.

And, of course, she has made hundreds of special pieces for individuals across the years, as well as many thousands of items across the regular Rhiannon range. All this on top of establishing a successful business in the picturesque and beautiful, but relatively isolated, town of Tregaron in the heart of the Cambrian Mountains.

It is testament to the quality and powerful attraction of her work that the business has attracted so many visitors across the years to this remote town at the heart of the natural beauty of the Cambrian Mountains. It is certainly the case that Rhiannon helped to put Tregaron on the map as a destination location.

Over the years, many customers were, and still are, prepared to travel very long distances to make sure that they could have their piece of Rhiannon jewellery, and see her at the bench in the viewing workshops at the Rhiannon Centre.

‘I will never give up’

Evans said:“I am first and foremost an artist/craftsperson, and as such I will never give up designing and creating, as long as my health allows. But the time has come for me to retire from everyday work and the business side of things. I will be transitioning to a singular focus on the creative side of things, my first love and passion!

“The world changes quickly and I have witnessed major changes and development in my own lifetime, since the 1950s. I feel that my time in the workshop is now in the past and the new generation is coming through.

“Technological innovations will also change some of what we do and as I watch my 17 grandchildren growing and developing I wonder what lies ahead for them. It is an exciting time, full of potential and promise.

“Despite all the changes we face, some things continue throughout the generations, perhaps my jewellery designs will “live” on into the future and the design style created can evolve with time and the generations still to come.

“Future designs may well have to change, adapting to changes in costs of materials and methods of production, but the aim will always be to create jewellery that reflects its Welsh origins and lasts a lifetime.

“Some of my heavier statement pieces are no longer viable in gold and silver and won’t be repeated. Remaining stock of these and other unique pieces will be sold, offering a last chance to purchase some of these very special designs.”

Over the next few months, Evans will be selling the last of the pieces exclusively made by her own hand, a small number of designs will then be retired permanently as they can only be made authentically by her.

For all the designs this is a final opportunity to have these pieces with Rhiannon’s own personal maker’s mark before a change to a new company mark as we move into the future. A last opportunity for all those avid collectors to add one or two more pieces to their trove of Evans’ personal work.

The business has a very loyal following among collectors, many of whom have built their trove over decades, amassing collections with values well into the six figures.

‘Time for herself’

Evans’ son, Gwern Gwynfil, said: “It is time for my mother to take some well earned time for herself, she has sustained the business through good times and bad.

“She was before her time as a pioneering Welsh woman in business, setting up and running a company which built an international reputation in the 70s and 80s, a time when the world for women in business was very different. I sometimes wonder how she would be celebrated as a business founder today in a world which provides relatively more recognition for pioneers and innovators.”

On the company’s future, Gwynfil goes on to say: “Like so many businesses across Wales, especially those in rural areas, it is challenging for the business right now.

“A situation made worse by the extraordinary rise in the value of gold and silver over the past few months. For the Rhiannon Centre, the pandemic impact, the collapse in visitor numbers to places like Tregaron in Mid Wales, the wider economic malaise, and an economic framework which sometimes seems designed to challenge and undermine small and medium sized businesses, all combine to place considerable pressure on the business.

“However, the business certainly has a future beyond my mother’s retirement, but it will need new investment to allow it to reach new markets – it would make sense today to have an outlet in our capital city for example. When the customers can’t come to you in numbers, and fuel costs alone are prohibitive, take yourself to the customers!

“This is a golden opportunity for our existing customers, collectors and others to own more than just a piece of Rhiannon jewellery and become owners of part of the company itself.

“It is a great shame when good businesses don’t outlast their founders. It happens all too often across Cymru. Such losses are a blow to anyone who seeks to see Cymru and Welsh culture sold to the world with originality.

“These missed opportunities to grow and sustain genuinely Welsh brands, and potentially hugely successful home grown companies, hold us back as a nation in so many ways.

“As a nation perhaps it’s time for all of us to be working harder and more positively to create more of our own national champions.’’

Find out more about Rhiannon here.

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