Late last year, Boodles Chairman Nicholas Wainwright and his niece Honour Wainwright, Boodles Director of Marketing, set off on a journey through Africa in search of inspiration and some extraordinary stones. The result of their journey is our 2025 High Jewellery collection, A Family Journey: Around Africa in 10 Days, inspired by the colours, wildlife and landscapes they encountered along the way. From lions in the Maasai Mara, to sunset skies over Tanzania, each moment left its own unique mark. There are forty-two pieces in total in the collection – each one full of colour, full of character, and full of memories of a very special trip.
A Boodles Family Journey
Unique stories
Boodles has always been about joy and discovery, and Nicholas and Honour's travels within Africa offered both in abundance. Each piece in this new collection draws on a different moment from their journey - inspired by the people they met, the wildlife they saw, and the vivid beauty of the African landscape. As with all Boodles jewellery, every piece tells its own story. The collection is a celebration of exceptional craftsmanship, rare gemstones, and the wonder of the world around us. We hope you enjoy it.
The Collection
Words by Nicholas Wainwright
A Family Journey: Around Africa in 10 Days marks the third chapter in Boodles’ ongoing journey around the world. It follows in the footsteps of my father and Honour's grandfathers' travels around the world in 1962, and more recently, my European adventure in 2023. This latest collection was inspired by a very special ten-day trip through Africa - and by the colours, characters and landscapes that made a lasting impression along the way.
Some of the stones were purchased during our travels, including the Ashoka diamonds in the Victoria Falls rings, and a remarkable 34-carat tsavorite we found in Tanzania. All of the gold pieces are also set in Single Mine Origin gold from the Sabodala-Massawa Mine in Senegal, allowing us to trace our materials from mine to workshop, and onwards to the showroom. It also felt fitting that our charity of the year this year is Just a Drop, a charity which provides communities around the world with access to safe water, with over 380 of its projects based in Africa. Honour and I visited two of these projects on our travels and saw first hand the impact Boodles' support has had on local communities.
Among the highlights of this collection is an elephant necklace featuring a 26-carat pear-shaped morganite and ten white agates, each carved by hand. Both the morganite and the pendant are detachable, allowing the necklace to be worn in three different ways - part of our continued focus on versatility in design. There is also a zebra collar that combines over 1,000 diamonds with black enamel and a show stopping 3.35-carat Colombian emerald.
My personal favourite is the Zambezi bangle, which features a 3.03-carat tsavorite set beneath a delicate dark enamel shard, and framed in carved mother-of-pearl. The green of the stone catches the light just as the glint of an crocodile's eye did, as it emerged from the Zambezi river one afternoon.
Boodles has always been about joy and discovery, and we like to think this collection celebrates just that.
Left: The Kilimanjaro, A one of a kind necklace featuring a hexagonal shaped tanzanite of over 33 carats surrounded by brilliant cut tsavorites and diamonds
Discover The Collection
The Zebra
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The Green Mamba
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Lake Nakuru
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The Gazelle
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The Kilimanjaro
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The Lion
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The African Sunset
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The Victoria Falls
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The Giraffe
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Kasbah Atlas Mountain
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The Zambezi
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The Maasai Mara
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The Elephant
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Behind The Design
The making of Around Africa in 10 days, took years to create. Join us as we take a look at the processes behind these intricate jewellery designs.
The Zebra
On clear evenings, zebras seem invisible: their distinctive striped pattern helps them vanish from view, avoiding the attention of predators. That certainly can’t be said of this suite: it’s guaranteed to draw the eye, day or night. Marquise diamonds and emeralds – not least, a 16.72 carat oval shaped emerald in the ring – are set to dazzle, with contrast provided by black enamel. Good luck evading those lions...
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The Zebra
On clear evenings, zebras seem invisible: their distinctive striped pattern helps them vanish from view, avoiding the attention of predators. That certainly can’t be said of this suite: it’s guaranteed to draw the eye, day or night. Marquise diamonds and emeralds – not least, a 16.72 carat oval shaped emerald in the ring – are set to dazzle, with contrast provided by black enamel. Good luck evading those lions...
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“There are forty two pieces in total in the collection - each one full of colour, full of character, & full of memories of a very special trip.”
Nicholas Wainwright, Boodles President
The Lion
Hic sunt leones – “here are lions”. It was a phrase used by ancient cartographers to indicate as-yet-uncharted lands. Lions would perhaps have preferred evading discovery: the Roman emperor Commodus is said to have slain 100 just in one day. We believe in protecting these marvels, paying tribute with marquise shaped diamonds in white and mixed shades of yellow.
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The African Sunset
Two rings – and 694 (!) precious stones between them. In craft terms, these are astounding. The main gems are the show-stoppers: a 21.33 carat tanzanite (acquired on this trip by Boodles’ President, Nicholas Wainwright), and a 20.39 carat pink tourmaline. In each case, these form our African ‘suns’, which in profile you can see setting through the branches of a baobab tree. They are cradled by a pavé-set 'tree's canopy' formed by striking green, orange and pink gemstones.
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Kasbah Atlas Mountain
The distinctive “kasbah” citadels of the Atlas mountains mark the landscape of north African nations, standing proud on the skyline in rose-golden tones. Once home to great rulers, these fortress watchtowers protected villages from rivalling tribes. Today, we’ve echoed their structure in a necklace, earrings and bracelet of pink oval rhodochrosite cabochons and imperial topaz gemstones.
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The African Sunset
Two rings – and 694 (!) precious stones between them. In craft terms, these are astounding. The main gems are the show-stoppers: a 21.33 carat tanzanite (acquired on this trip by Boodles’ President, Nicholas Wainwright), and a 20.39 carat pink tourmaline. In each case, these form our African ‘suns’, which in profile you can see setting through the branches of a baobab tree. They are cradled by a pavé-set 'tree's canopy' formed by striking green, orange and pink gemstones.
Discover More
Kasbah Atlas Mountain
The distinctive “kasbah” citadels of the Atlas mountains mark the landscape of north African nations, standing proud on the skyline in rose-golden tones. Once home to great rulers, these fortress watchtowers protected villages from rivalling tribes. Today, we’ve echoed their structure in a necklace, earrings and bracelet of pink oval rhodochrosite cabochons and imperial topaz gemstones.
Discover More
“Africa, a vast, unique and diverse continent, provides an incredibly deep pool of reference to draw on. It is like an adventure in itself.”
Rebecca Hawkins, Boodles Director of Design
