Annoushka Ducas counts Rihanna and Kate Middleton as fans – the celebrity jewellery designer behind Links of London on fundraising for disadvantaged young women and delivering drones to the Ukrainian army

Dec 24 , 2023

Annoushka Ducas has designed charms and other playful jewellery for the likes of Rihanna, Kate Middleton and Gemma Chan. Photo: Handout

Annoushka Ducas invented cufflink specialist Links of London while living in Hong Kong – before founding her namesake brand, known for playful pieces favoured by celebrities like Gemma Chan, Rihanna and Catherine, the Princess of Wales

She started the My Life in Seven Charms podcast, supports The Prince’s Trust through The Brilliant Breakfast initiative, and even delivered a pickup full of drones and tools to the Ukrainian army

Many years ago, Annoushka Ducas had a ruby engagement ring made in Hong Kong, coincidentally by jeweller K.S. Sze & Sons, which today neighbours her eponymous boutique in the Mandarin Oriental. In those days Ducas and her husband-to-be John Ayton lived in the city and founded the successful cufflink specialist Links of London there, but designing this ring awakened a new passion that truly shaped her approach to designing jewellery today.

Annoushka Marguerite Rainbow eternity ring. Photo: Handout

“It was an incredibly helpful process,” she recalls. “I didn’t train, and my drawings are pretty ghastly,” she admits, “but I can visualise very strongly.” This skill helped her launch her fine jewellery brand in the UK in 2009 three years after the couple had sold Links of London.

Her designs are based on stylish, playful jewellery she likes to wear herself, and are favourites with celebrities and royals like Gemma Chan, Rihanna and Catherine, the Princess of Wales. She’s always created bespoke jewellery too, but during the pandemic the mass adoption of remote working helped expand this side of the business and now that opportunity is available in Hong Kong through both her original boutique and recently opened Ocean Centre branch.

Annoushka Knuckle collection. Photo: Handout

Rings, ring jackets that elevate an engagement ring and earrings are some of her bespoke offerings, but clients can also really have fun with her witty charms, which she also offers to order and which have gained Annoushka a reputation for being the “Queen of Charms”.

She has even launched a podcast, My Life in Seven Charms, in which she designs adorable, jewelled charms that mark milestones in her interviewee’s lives. For instance, master chef Angela Hartnett’s charms included a gold piece of pasta, a chef’s knife and a wooden chopping board; while for Alice Temperley, Annoushka created a cider bottle locket and a ruby apple as the fashion designer was brought up on a cider farm.

Annoushka My Life in Seven Charms necklace. Photo: Handout