Celebrating 40 years of Gold Arts

This year marks Gold Arts 40th birthday. From humble beginnings we now have stores stretching across East and West Sussex and a growing online store which reaches customers across the globe. Founded by Douglas Newman in 1979 in the heart of the Brighton Lanes, Gold Arts quickly established its sparkling reputation for fine jewellery, expert craftmanship and friendly knowledgeable service which is still central to the business today. This excellent reputation meant that the Gold Arts brand now has stores in Brighton, Chichester, Eastbourne, Hastings and Worthing, offering a range of services from bespoke jewellery manufacturing and repairs in our on site workshops, to professional jewellery and watch valuations and purchasing.

Our sister company, GA Jewellers and Pawnbrokers also offer a range of services, from pawnbroking to travel money and everything else Jewellery based. Perhaps you spotted Douglas Newman on channel 4’s series ‘Posh Pawn’ in 2016?

What makes Gold Arts so Special?

Not just a jewellers, each Gold Arts store has its own in house workshop where highly skilled goldsmiths repair, resize, and polish jewellery or ever more popular, work with our customers to create and design bespoke items or re work old jewellery into something new. We use traditional methods and new technology to help design and manufacture a significant amount of our new jewellery and all of our bespoke items for customers. We use systems like CAD and 3D printing to help us create outstanding personal commissions.

A Team of Experts

Gold Arts is still very much a family business, now run by founder Douglas Newman and his son Douglas Newman junior. ‘The Doug’s’ as they are known here at Gold Arts have a strong reputation for purchasing diamonds and jewellery, ensuring that the shop windows are always sparkling and that Gold Arts customers always get the widest choice of the finest diamonds and gemstones at highly competitive prices.

Doug junior focuses his expertise on the Gold Arts watch department which boasts an expertly selected range of luxury men and women's new and pre-owned watches from of some of the worlds most exclusive brands. The collection includes but is not limited to Rolex, Omega, Tag, Breitling, Cartier and the occasional Patek Philipe.

Martin Getting brings his prestigious qualifications as a registered valuer to the Gold Arts team. This wealth of experience, expertise and detailed knowledge of gemmology gives our customers an unrivalled level of customer service. He is one of only two registered valuers in Sussex. For more information see NAJ's Institute of Registered Valuers Online.

Original Jewellery Designs by Kerry Newman. Kerry Newman, daughter of founder Douglas Newman combines her creative eye with the technical skill of CAD design to create original expertly designed jewellery. Customers can come in and work with Kerry to create one off commissions with sketches fulfilling the customer’s design brief. Quite often it is the gemstone which determines many aspects of the design.  The size and shape, especially if unusual or fancy cut can lend itself to different ideas on how on how it’s going to look best once mounted.
We use CAD as a tool to build and create designs that can later be 3D printed and then cast in any precious metal. The castings are hand assembled and hallmarked before setting gemstones and a final clean and polish to complete the piece.

Expert Goldsmiths. We are proud to be one of the few businesses in Sussex keeping the goldsmith craft alive with in house workshops offering bespoke craftmanship in our Chichester, Eastbourne, Hove and Brighton stores.
Our goldsmiths Matt, Glenn, Kerry, Steve, Pierre, Christine and Laura work on everything from polishing, ring resizing and restoration, to original commissioned pieces.

Knowledgeable and Friendly Shop Staff. Our team of expert sales assistants are specialists in their field with a wealth of knowledge surrounding jewellery, gemmology and specialist knowledge of antiques and watches. Tina has been with Gold Arts for 20 years and is known by us as ‘The Queen of Pearls’. Here is her Ultimate Guide to Pearls, which outlines everything you ever need to know about the history of pearls, the science behind pearls and how to care for your pearl jewellery. Her collection is online and in our Brighton store.

Kim, who also works in our Brighton store and has been with us for 19 years has a keen eye for antiques. A quick glance is often all Kim needs to determine if an item of jewellery has special antique heritage or meaning. She’s also a keen local historian and loves researching into the history of the Brighton lanes where the antique and jewellery trade has existed for hundreds of years and is home to three Gold Arts stores today.

Jackie, Liz and Louise who work in ‘Newmans’ our sister shop in the lanes, are the go to ladies for anyone looking for dazzling engagement and wedding rings. Whilst all Gold Arts stores have a fabulous collection of sparkling diamonds, Jackie and her team specialise in working with their customers to design and create their dream engagement or wedding ring. Jackie and Liz are the longest standing members at Gold Arts and have established the Newmans store as a highly regarded jewellers with a reputation for excellent service and beautiful products.

Annie is based in our smaller Brighton shop which specialises in some of the worlds most iconic brands ranging from Links of London jewellery to Clogau. This store also hosts a fabulous collection of Lalique crystal and Lalique jewellery. C’est tres bien! Annie is also a wonderful source of information for any of your watch related queries or questions. 

Dean, Jo and Tanyol make up our Eastbourne team, situated in the sunniest spot of the UK, they are a highly knowledgeable and tight knit team. Like any of our stores, if you can't find what you are looking for Dean, Jo and Tanyol will do their utmost to personally source the perfect product for you. 

Representing Gold Arts in West Sussex is our Chichester team and one of our flagship stores, located on East street in the centre of the historic city of Chichester. An impressive collection of antique and pre-owned jewellery and watches is always abundant in our Chichester store, but they never stay on the shelf for too long as these pieces are often snapped up fast. Ed, Dave, Mark and Katie are a friendly and extremely knowledgeable team and along with their onsite Goldsmith Matt, ensure that our West Sussex customers receive the most exceptional products and services.

Then and Now

Having been based in the heart of the Brighton lanes for over 40 years now, we have watched how the cobbled streets around us and Gold Arts itself has changed throughout the years. The labyrinth that is the Brighton lanes get busier each year and locals and tourists from across the world walk through the winding and weaving lanes throughout the year. In many ways not much has changed and this area of Brighton has remained the hub of all things jewellery and antique in the city. This heritage dates back to as far as 1750 and by the 1960’s The Lanes was an established community of antique dealers.

Whilst our windows glisten with diamonds and families wine and dine in the various restaurants and pubs nestled in the lanes, these historic streets are also rumoured to be a hotbed of phantom activity. Visit the Brighton Ghost Walk Website ghostwalkbrighton.co.uk to find out more about these ghostly going ons.

Whilst we have three shops in the heart of the Brighton lanes, we are also well known for our Chichester and Eastbourne shops which maintain the high level of excellent service embedded into the Gold Arts philosophy. Each store has its own culture and all are integral parts of the Gold Arts family. Forty years on since our inception, Gold Arts is proud to be an established and highly regarded family jewellers. With a team of trusted experts working across Sussex our mission to deliver unrivalled expert services alongside exceptional products to all of our customers is unwavering.