One week on and I am still not over it.

Essentials began with an introduction from Lucy, our PR, and grew into something far bigger than either of us planned. Somehow it ended up as a lunch at Baby Bay. Emily invited some of her Cornish friends, I turned up knowing nobody, and it was one of the best afternoons I have had as a small business owner in a very long time.

How it came together

When Emily and I started talking about how to celebrate the launch, a formal event never felt right. Neither of us are that kind of person and the collection is not that kind of jewellery. It is coastal, it is relaxed, it is for real life. So the celebration had to match.

Baby Bay was at the top of both our lists immediately. If you have not been, it is a beach bar and restaurant tucked into a cove in Cornwall with a wood fire grill and a way of feeding people that feels completely unhurried. The styling and laid back attitude with superb attention to detail matched our vision exactly. The food is second to none.

The afternoon

There was Amie rose. There was a whole fish on the fire, there were prawns and lobster on the grill, strawberries and clotted cream in the sun and a lot of wind, and a table of people who talked so much the food went cold. Nobody seemed to mind.

Seeing the girls react to the collection and discuss how they would style it all - in exactly the ways Emily and I had intended - was so special. That is a rare thing. When people receive something and immediately understand it. It felt like a real credit to Emily's eye and to everything we had tried to create together.

A lesson in celebrating

Milly Maunder has been going since 2017 and I think I have celebrated approximately none of it properly. Usually I am already three steps into the next thing before the current one has landed. So this felt different. The fact I nearly broke down on the way there only added to the stress levels. But these moments are worth marking. A lesson very well learnt as we approach our tenth year. What the helly.

The jewellery, worn

There is something about seeing a collection worn on a real afternoon by real people, outdoors, with sun on their skin and wind in their hair, that no product shoot can replicate. The Shell Pendant worn over a white cotton dress. The Fish Pendant on cord layered with silver bracelets and a ring. The pieces doing exactly what they were designed to do.

We wanted to curate an edit for the woman who wants jewellery that works for all occasions of life - dressed up and layered or paired down and simple. Watching everyone wear it that afternoon, I think we got there.