When buying jewellery for Caradiaz, I tend to go for unusual pieces that have some kind of 'stylistic' connection with an ancient culture.

I find all ancient cultures simply fascinating, although I'm particularly drawn towards Ancient Egypt and Ancient China. So it's probably no surprise that we have pieces like the Aida, Amarna, Tiye and Qin necklaces on our website.

You may have also guessed that I didn't miss the exhibitions on the Terracotta Warriors (British Museum) and Tutankhamun (The O2).

Tutankhamun was a bit disappointing, although they had some gorgeous ancient jewellery on display. But, with or without jewellery, I enjoyed the Warriors more. It was really impressive to be able to get so close to the statues and see the differences in the costumes, faces, etc. Mind you, my friend and fellow internet entrepreneur, Sophie Garrett, (who runs www.yours2share.com) came with me and my husband to see it and wasn't so impressed. But she has actually seen the real thing in China, so I guess she had a very good point....

A little anecdote before I go. I bumped (quite literally) into the now retired Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani at the Warriors exhibition. He was unconspicuously walking about amongst tourist and other visitors at first but, after a while, his dark orange tan and artificial-looking hair gave him away, particularly amongst a group of Italian student girls who tried to capture Mr. Garavani and one of his (rather) young male companions with their mobile phones.