London-based jewellery designer Milton Stavrou, a recent graduate of Central Saint Martins, has been named the 2025 AUTOR Award Winner—an accolade that recognizes emerging voices in contemporary jewellery. Deeply personal and conceptually rich, his graduate collection, Cheap as Chips: Principles of a Fish Supper, draws from his family’s longstanding fish and chip shop, exploring themes of memory, value, and economic fragility through wearable art.
As he prepares to debut internationally at AUTOR 2025 in Bucharest, Milton speaks with AUTOR about the meaning behind his work, the challenges of translating personal narrative into jewellery, and what he hopes to gain from his first international showcase.
Congratulations on being selected through AUTOR’s partnership with Central Saint Martins! What does this opportunity mean to you?
It means a lot to be recognised for my graduate collection. It makes all the hard work worthwhile. It feels surreal to be able to show my work at such a prestigious event.
You’ll be debuting your graduate collection in Romania for the first time. What are you most excited to share with the audience at AUTOR 2025?
Once the award was announced, I began working throughout the year to improve, add to, and adapt the collection to reach a wider audience. I’m so excited by the responses from visitors and practitioners alike. To be amongst so many talented and interested people is a privilege—and to have my story told among theirs brings me great pride.
“Cheap as Chips” is a deeply personal and conceptual collection. What story are you telling through these unexpected materials and forms?
My father’s fish and chip shop has been a staple in our community for over 54 years. It previously belonged to my grandfather and has weathered many financially difficult times—including now. The current recession, often described as the cost-of-living crisis, has brought immense economic instability. Cheap as Chips: Principles of a Fish Supper reflects the irony that chips—once seen as a cheap and accessible food—are now seen by many as a small indulgence.
This shift in perception alters how people interact with places like our shop. Traditionally working-class establishments are being overlooked. Communities become localised and isolated. My collection highlights these shifting dynamics—encouraging people to “keep it local” and find value in everyday rituals. Using materials like gold, silver, and amber—often viewed as precious—I aimed to elevate these overlooked relationships and narratives.
What challenges or surprises did you encounter while transforming a family story into wearable objects?
One of the biggest challenges was translating personal, often mundane experiences into wearable, compelling objects—balancing recognisable forms with more abstract ones that invite curiosity. I wanted viewers to look twice and feel drawn in.
This meant experimenting with different materials and techniques—like recreating the appearance of chips, or repurposing surfaces from the shop, such as tabletops, into brooches. Every piece had to be wearable but also layered with meaning.
The collection is divided into three sections: front of house, back of house, and the plate. This structure helped make the design process manageable and ensured that hidden aspects of the shop were not overlooked. One example is the Principles of a Fish Supper necklace, which reflects how my father prepares fish—descaling, flipping, deboning. The silver form mirrors this process, with one side acid-etched and oxidised, and the reverse revealing mother of pearl—evoking the delicacy of fish flakes.
How are you preparing mentally and logistically for your very first international show?
Fortunately, I still work at my father’s shop. That’s all the preparation I need!
What are you hoping to gain or learn from this experience in Bucharest?
I’m hoping to meet inspiring practitioners—both emerging and established—and gain insight into how they navigate the jewellery industry. I want to understand different approaches to practice and explore potential pathways for my own career.
Do you already see the seeds of your next body of work taking shape beyond AUTOR?
Yes, I’ve begun expanding the collection beyond the shop’s walls—mixing traditional jewellery motifs with subtle contemporary twists that ground the pieces in daily life. A good example is the Ketchup Stain Ring, which blends the familiar with the unexpected—combining tradition with lived experience.
