As you can see from this portrait, Mr Sepkus is a bold and unique stylist, but also a man of intellectual substance.

” When I design a piece of jewellery it is as if I’m writing a book. Each design is a chapter, not in words but in shapes and textures. I make precious stones and cold metal speak.”

Originally from Vilnius, Alex Sepkus studied at the Lithuanian Academy of Arts, where his training included interior design, glass making, sculpture, printmaking and subsequently jewellery design. His father was an architect and all these influences and disciplines are evident in both conception and execution of Sepkus’s collections.

After relocating to New York City in 1988 he met and went into partnership with entrepreneur and jeweller Jeffrey Feero and the successful company they have built (also called Alex Sepkus) employs 17 skilled craftsmen working alongside Sepkus to hand-finish his designs. It’s unusual in these days of global manufacturing to be able to execute all the work in NYC itself.

Microscopes and 18th century jewellery loupes are employed in the creation of complex and intricately detailed pieces that need to be examined closely to fully appreciate the beautiful craftsmanship – and it is now possible to see the collection in London.

I love these charming Alphabet figures (available to order) – they are so original and full of character.

Alex Sepkus’s work reminds me of the 19th Century Viennese painter Gustav Klimt. I really respond to combinations of the sculptural and geometric with Eastern-influenced sensuous, organic shapes and colours.

There will be a sale from Monday April 22nd with discounts of between 20-70% including Lola Rose, Chan Luu and lots of other favourite designers as well as ex-display items and vintage handbags.

It was very reasonable too, for what they call a Small Room (which is about double the size of a luxury room in Paris or London) and the little details are so homely and welcoming – Cowshed products, complimentary mineral water, fresh baked cookies and proper tea and coffee.

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I walked around far more than I would have expected, and made two trips across town to the cafe at the Literaturhaus off the Ku’damm which is a delightful experience both during winter in the conservatory, and summer in the garden. The food is lovely – I had a great seafood risotto. (www.literaturhaus-berlin.de)

A delicious lunch of lentils in balsamic glaze, grilled goat’s cheese and herbed salad with a spicy popadom at Mogg & Meltzer’s cafe in the renovated Jewish Girl’s School in Mitte, now housing art galleries and a JFK museum (opposite the Me Collection art gallery.)  An empty bowl that moments before had contained chicken soup in the background. Lovely home made chollah bread too…(www.moggandmelzer.com)

I finally managed to get to the Pergamon Museum, which was closed for several years as all the Museum Island buildings underwent extensive renovations. The Collections of Classical Antiquities, Museum of the Ancient Near East and Museum of Islamic Art are housed in one building which is still undergoing major works. Fragments of the Pergamon Altar were taken from Ottoman Turkey to Berlin in the 1870s and reconstructed as the centrepiece of the Museum designed around it, as well as a reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate from Babylon and numerous Classical buildings, friezes and fragments. The Museum tells a complex history including bomb damage and dispersal of the collections that were brought back under one roof after German reunification in the 1990s. (www.smb.museum)

As always I am looking for inspiration from jewellery of all cultures and eras, and thinking about how to incorporate ideas into my own designs for the TG collection  - particularly bead necklaces and unusual combinations of stones. This Assyrian necklace uses lapis lazuli, gold and various agates in a simple but unusual form that looks both incredibly modern yet ancient at the same time. I am designing some pieces inspired by this at the moment.

Below – a bright blue sky but absolutely freezing – all the layers of Berlin – classical museum architecture, the iconic 1960s TV tower, an equestrian monument and construction cranes ever present on the skyline as buildings come and go.

http://howtospendit.ft.com/womens-jewellery/21843-armed-and-glamorous

These beautiful 10ct gold and diamond snake rings are by Turkish designer Aida Bergsen. Sinuous, sculptural and Gothic, perhaps they will bring you good fortune too!

POA from Talisman Gallery at Harvey Nichols by phone or email.

I have been selling wonderful work by this Italian designer duo for some time, and am delighted to offer beautiful pieces from their exciting new collection.

Luna comes from a family of architects and until Paolo introduced her to wax casting techniques she thought this would be her calling as well. She uses her architectural training to sculpt in wax three dimensional gold settings created around the unique precious and semi-precious stones that they source from around the world. It’s always a pleasure to offer the work of designer-makers, who have an innate understanding of both design and craftsmanship.

Lucifer Vir Honestus is one of the featured jewellers in The New Jewellers by Oliver Dupon, published by Thames and Hudson in September 2012.

All one-of-a-kind pieces available from Talisman Gallery, Harvey Nichols. Prices on request, either in store or by phone and email.

Fire Opal, Diamond and 18ct gold earrings

Tourmaline, Daimond and 18ct gold earrings

Emerald, Turquoise and 18ct gold ring

Rubelite, Diamond and 18ct gold ring

Aquamarine, Opal, Diamond and 18ct gold ring

Diamond and 18ct gold ring

Emerald and 18ct gold bracelet

One of the famous Soho Noses – this photo is pretty old, before the phenomenon was well-known and it seemed a very peculiar one-off. I think there are 17 in all, and you can take a guided walk pointing them out. I always walked past this one in Meard Street without noticing, because it’s pretty high up – and one day looked up.

Golden Square’s royal clean-up of Soho.

This beautiful sculpture reminds me of traditional Fulani tribal earrings – it’s called South of the River, by Bernhard Schottlander from 1972 and is outside Ernst and Young on Lambeth Palace Road in South London.

A Surrealist window display in Paris – I think it was for the Museum of Magic.

I didn’t know what this striking sculpture was, as there’s no plaque in Paternoster Square near St Paul’s. It’s actually a Thomas Heatherwick air vent, as I found out by sheer coincidence. The man is a genius.

Berlin. Say no more.

This installation recently appeared in Monmouth Street, Covent Garden. Each coat strung on a washing line between the Georgian buildings is labelled with a traditional shop trade – the kinds of businesses, often skilled trades, that are disappearing everywhere but are long gone in Central London.

Beautiful Parisian street signage  and the Think! window display is – surprisingly – for a shoe brand.

And finally…one of my favourite sculptors – the late Lynn Chadwick. This pair slouch next to the Regent’s Canal by King’s Place.

Now in her 80s, with trademark red bobbed wig and oversized glasses, the models are disconcerting realistic when life-sized, and troubling as an army of miniatures or the vastly oversized figure looming over Oxford Street.