Britain is known for many things in Asia - wool, cheese and Kate Middleton - but fine jewellery is not one of them. Boodles hopes to change that perception this month by opening its first outpost on the continent at Lane Crawford Hong Kong.
While Boodles may sound more like a fashion boutique than a high-end jeweller, the brand has a serious pedigree. Founded in 1798 in Liverpool, Boodle and Dunthorne - as it was then known - was the city's leading jeweller. Following the death of Boodle, their competitors, the Wainwright family, bought the company in 1910. In the years that followed, the family branched out into watches, while traditional jewellery, sporting trophies and university silverware became staples of the business.
The brand made the leap from a small local business into a full-fledged luxury brand in 1992, when the fifth generation took the reins.
The brand's transformation was complete in 2004, when the family dropped the Dunthorne name and changed to the more contemporary sounding 'Boodles'. Today the company has nine stores, eight in Britain and the other in Dublin.
Under the guidance of Michael and Nicholas Wainwright, Boodles opened several stores in London and brought on board a design team to create their own line of jewellery.
'Diamonds have always been in the business. While most jewellers buy wholesale and sell it on, we wanted to do something different,' says Boodles director Jody Wainwright, a sixth-generation family member.