Los Angeles design house Polly Wales and London engraver Castro Smith launched a collaborative collection in June 2026 that weds cast-not-set gemstone work to centuries-old signet engraving.
The Polly Wales x Castro Smith collection merges two ancient, rule-bound crafts and breaks them open to deliver one-of-a-kind objects drawn from myth and nature.
The limited-edition pieces open up a conversation around the artists’ shared belief that creation is a peaceful pursuit in which more should engage; one that results in objects that carry the soul and knowledge of the hands that made them, then take on a life of their own, making the owners part of the story.
A Collaboration of Kindred Spirits
Polly first met Castro online. The goldsmith sent a direct message expressing his admiration for Polly’s work. Instantly, they hit it off.
“It's kind of like there's a life force between us in some way,” says Castro, a young jeweler at the time who viewed Polly as “much more established, and quite powerful in the UK.”
“Castro and I have a very similar energy,” says Polly. “We're both very open and upbeat people.”
By this time, Castro had worked under expert makers like Hiroshi Suzuki and Kenji Io. He describes Polly as part of a growing crowd of jewelry professionals who openly share their knowledge and hard-learned lessons with younger artists.
“I experienced a lot of gatekeeping during my early career in England,” says Polly. “It makes it really hard. Your expectations of what you can accomplish become so low when people around you aren’t inviting or supportive. I just feel we don't need to be like that.”
Conversations with Polly online were, according to Castro, full of insight into what to look out for, what was happening in the jewelry profession, and what he could accomplish as a young artist.
“Polly didn’t hesitate to grow my understanding of what was out at sea, professionally speaking. It’s hard to understand how big that ocean is, and as a young artist you swim hard but sometimes wonder, ‘Where am I going?’ She was happy to gift that help,” says Castro.
The two continued to bond. Castro, who came from painting and printmaking, developed a friendship with Polly, who studied sculpture before retraining in jewelry and built a global cult following for her cast-not-set designs.
How the Collection Was Conceived
Castro and Polly eventually met in person in 2025. The idea for a collaboration materialized over a game of darts and a couple of rounds of Guinness.
“It started as cheeky suggestions, but it really seemed very clear we should do something together,” says Castro.
Polly describes the collaboration as obvious from the start, saying, “When I met Castro in person, it just felt like a no-brainer.”
“There's a lot of different jewelers with all different types of spirits. We just kind of fit together like a puzzle. I think some part of the universe brought us together to do that. A kind of similar ilk,” says Castro.
“My sister always used to say about me, ‘somebody needs to be holding on to the end of that balloon,’ and I think Castro and I are the same in that sense. We’re both incredibly esoteric thinkers with endless ideas,” says Polly.
Combining Two Crafts
The Polly Wales x Castro Smith collection merges the work of both artists through a process inspired by a game called exquisite corpse (cadavre exquis) invented by the Surrealists in Paris around 1925.
“You play on a piece of paper, where someone draws a head and then folds it over, the next draws the torso without seeing the head, then the legs, and so on. You get this sort of monster at the end. We were really excited about the idea of that sort of back and forth,” says Polly.
The goal was collective creation. Polly would create the base for each piece in her LA workshop, then send it overseas to Castro for engraving. She didn’t know what he’d choose to do. The organic nature of her cast-not-set process meant he’d have to work with what emerged naturally from the gems and molten gold. Neither artist would, or could, control the outcome.
“It requires you to release control,” says Castro. “But what we could make could be quite endless. It’s really what you need for perfect collaboration.”
For Polly, whose career foundation is firmly built on a willingness to see the beauty in imperfections, the trust-based creation journey scratched an itch, “to break things and challenge things by doing something that feels, and ultimately is, entirely different.”
Both artists work exclusively in gold. They describe the material as having a life and artistic tendencies of its own.
“There's a kind of strength and brutality where the metal is not necessarily going to do what you want it to do,” says Castro.
The Transatlantic Creation Process
The collection took roughly a year and a half to complete. Each artist learned, step by step, how to accommodate the other.
“We were teaching each other,” says Polly. “Even master craftsmen have to learn new things.”
Polly learned to adjust her signature designs so Castro had the right surface thickness and space for his engraving. Castro learned to work delicately around the stones and surfaces.
“You don't want to just go in and damage all these precious parts,” says Castro, who worked on the collection from his studio in London.
Polly’s partner, James Firman, transported each piece back and forth between LA and London as each artist completed their turn.
“We had to wait months at a time to see what the other had done,” says Polly. “But I felt confident collaborating with Castro was going to be a success. I had no doubt that this was going to be a good project, and we were right.”
Forging Artistic Bonds
Polly describes the collection’s creation process as bringing a tremendous sense of artistic companionship.
“Being a jeweler is a very solitary sport. I have developed a sort of envy of my friends who are musicians,” jokes Polly, who’s spent 20 years perfecting her cast-not-set craft.
Both artists have long incorporated biophilic designs into their work.
“We're interested in animals and dreamlike places, and ended up creating our own kind of ecology,” says Castro. “It’s like taking two artistic sets of DNA and fusing them into something.”
Their crafts weren’t the only thing to fuse. Both studio teams worked closely throughout the process, and Polly’s goldsmith of 10 years ended up going full-time at Castro’s workshop.
“He wanted to relocate to London for personal reasons, and while I was entirely heartbroken to say goodbye, I immediately told him, ‘You have to go work for Castro,’” recalls Polly.
Castro and Polly both describe their studio teams as the grounding force.
“They take care of us. They are what allow us to go to these artistic places and play with these ideas, and then enable us to actualize them,” says Polly.
How the Collection Took Shape
The first completed piece in the Polly Wales x Castro Smith collection was the Slither Plum Blossom Signet Ring. Pink and orange stones sit like eggs beside snakes that appear poised to consume them.
“We started with a signet ring because it’s really my signature and where I started in my craft,” says Castro, whose career took off after his signet designs were picked up by Dover Street Market.
The second style in the collection was bands. Castro’s love of bugs and insects led to the ant-engraved design in The Gatherers Rainbow Sprinkle Ring.
“I think ants are really beautiful. They're kind of like people in cities, living together and collecting things. I imagined them collecting all these little crystals. And the thought of getting asked ‘oh, is that an ant on your ring there’ was just so funny to me,” Castro recalls.
Spider webs appear to hold gems in place on the Webs & Wings Jumbo Padlock.
Then came the classic Polly Wales skull rings. Design changes maintained the signature look while providing a slightly larger, smoother surface that Castro used as a canvas for winged daisies and owl heads.
Last came the padlocks. By that point, Polly’s goldsmith had already transitioned to Castro’s team. “Having him physically present with me was perfect because he was able to guide my approach to the gold,” says Castro.
“The padlocks are such a loved part of my studio collection, so it was just like, yeah, we've got to do them. We’ve got to do a big piece. And it really is cooler and bolder,” says Polly.
How the Collection Was Received
“The response to the pieces has just been incredible,” says Polly, speaking ahead of the collection’s launch party at her LA showroom and workshop.
Castro admits he struggled to keep the collection under wraps. “I usually take pictures as I work, and share them, but Polly was really good at holding that energy until the last couple of weeks. When people finally saw the pieces, it was explosive,” he says.
The collection went live June 6th, 2026. Half of the 16-object collection sold in the first 20 minutes.
“People can quite clearly see that collaborative element. A lot of jewelers talk about collaborating, so for this to happen and for us to get this far, and still have more ideas, really feels like success to me,” says Polly.
The Value in Wearable Art
“It's a living thing,” muses Castro. “A lot of people put their dreams and thoughts into creating these, and much of what we do isn’t written down. It’s from conversations in workshops and people sharing knowledge that gets passed on. When you’ve got that piece, you’ve got something that was forged from the fire of the conversation in the workshop. That’s the magical part of owning these. You’re part of the story.”
For Polly, “there are quite a few pieces that I'm sad I can’t keep, but it never feels right to hold on to them. Their job is to go out into the world. I think whoever gets them is going to be a lucky bastard, because this is a very rare moment.”
“This kind of art gets better as it gets older. The metal texture outside changes and the gold comes to the surface. It starts living its own life. It feels more alive,” says Castro.
A Word for Young Creators
Polly hopes more young artists will invest time in their craft, regardless of whether they pursue it professionally.
“I once heard someone describe creativity as the antithesis of violence. Castro and I are so lucky that what we get to do every single day is 100 percent a peaceful activity to be engaged with in the world. We need more people inside their heads having peaceful pursuits,” says Polly.
For aspiring professionals, Castro says it’s never been a better time to put yourself out there.
“Most dreams just kind of form and are not practiced. The internet is causing the chaos in the world, but it can also be the thing that's giving joy, and lets you share and put out there these things you maybe didn't always dream of doing, but you love,” says Castro.
“If your community is just your own workshop, and that's all you have control over, then that's the world you should build. Generate what you can from it. Build a peaceful, good place. Then you're winning,” says Polly.
