Local jeweller enjoys sparkling trade

In the 1970s, Frank Bowen relocated to Kingston from rural Manchester in search of a job. He was entering adulthood and recognised that he needed a skill in order to be guaranteed an income.

His toyed with the idea of becoming an auto-mechanic, but he quickly realised that interacting with grease and oil could soil his romantic life.

"After doing the work, the grease and the gas oil, me couldn't deal with it. When me go round my girls dem, all me a try get off the gas oil, it nah come off, so me just decide my mind say this naah go work. Me did affi find something else," Bowen shared.

By 1981, he began working as an apprentice at the now defunct Ramsaran Jewellery Store, and as Bowen puts it, "the rest is history".

"From me small, me find myself fascinated with jewellery. Me never know I would be making jewellery. Me just decide to come check Mr Ramsaran one day to learn the trade and I never turn back. I was 19 at the time," Bowen said, in between laughter.

From his storefront shop in the downtown Kingston business district, Bowen spent seven years learning the intricate trade as a jeweller, spending hours crafting and polishing precious metals such as gold and silver into eye-catching pieces.

Bowen, with almost four decades' experience in the trade, has since trained his son, Christopher, who is now versed as a jeweller. Like his father, the younger Bowen makes and repairs pieces such as rings, watches, earrings, bracelets, chains, pendants and name plates.

Bowen invited the news team on a tour of his workshop where he showed off his skills and the intricacies of the jewellery-making process. The process first starts by igniting a torch to moult pieces of gold. The liquid gold is then poured into a container and is then passed through an articulated machine that forms the pattern for the piece of jewellery that is being made.

A Cuban link, for example, takes a week to complete. He admits that the prevalence of jewellers in the marketplace has decreased due to several factors, chief among them being the rise in acquisitory crimes such as robberies and housebreaking. As Bowen spoke of his love for jewellery making, his smile quickly faded as he pointed out how high levels of crime plaguing the island have affected his trade.

"Nobody nah really wear them gold again because of robberies. People nah really say jewellery making again, dem more a go for stainless steel because dem can't wear it again out a street," Bowen said.

"Me still stick to it because me love it and at my age now, me can't find nothing else to really do. It is profitable still, although back in the day, is after a long while me realise say me affi up the price a bit," the 63-year-old added.

Bowen said that while the trade is "not like one time", he has no desire to abandon a craft that he has used to help others shine as they put their best foot forward.