40 Years of Labyrinth: From Jareth the Goblin King to Handcrafted Jewellery

40 Years Down the Labyrinth

There are films you watch, enjoy and move on from.

And then there are films that somehow become part of you.

Labyrinth is very much the latter.

Forty years after Jim Henson first invited audiences into his extraordinary world of goblins, riddles, creatures and impossible staircases, the film continues to find new generations of fans — while those of us who grew up with it still know exactly what someone means when they say, "You remind me of the babe..."

And at the centre of it all is one of cinema's most unforgettable characters: Jareth the Goblin King, played by David Bowie.

The hair. The costumes. The crystal ball. The swagger. The music.

Only Bowie could have made the Goblin King quite so... Bowie.

So, as Labyrinth celebrates its 40th anniversary, it felt like the perfect moment for us to finally bring Jareth into the Licensed to Charm Labyrinth jewellery collection.

But making him was never going to be as simple as drawing a pendant and sending it off to be manufactured.

This one had to feel special.

How Do You Turn the Goblin King Into Jewellery?

That's where the real fun begins.

Every character we work with has something that makes them instantly recognisable. With Jareth, there is almost too much to choose from.

Our starting point is the character itself: studying the shapes, details, expressions and features that make Jareth unmistakably the Goblin King.

The challenge is then translating all of that into something tiny enough to wear as jewellery.

What works on screen doesn't automatically work at the scale of a pendant. Details have to be considered incredibly carefully so that the character still has personality and depth once reduced to just a few centimetres.

It's part design, part engineering and quite a lot of obsession over very, very small details.

And that's before we've even made anything.

From Sketch to 3D

Once we're happy with the direction, the design begins its journey into three dimensions.

Using 3D CAD, the piece is digitally sculpted and refined. This is where we can begin to see how Jareth will actually work as a piece of jewellery rather than simply an illustration.

The face, hair, textures, depth and proportions are all worked through at this stage.

And there are plenty of conversations along the way.

Is that detail strong enough?

Will you still see it when the piece is worn?

Does it feel like Jareth?

Sometimes the smallest adjustment can completely change the finished piece.

Then It Gets Real

This might be our favourite part.

Once the digital design is ready, it moves from the screen into the physical world.

Our master models and moulds allow the design we've spent so long looking at digitally to finally become something we can actually hold.

Suddenly, Jareth isn't a CAD model anymore.

He's a piece of jewellery.

And from there, the piece makes its way to our jewellers, where the traditional side of the process takes over.

It's one of the things we love most about what we do: modern technology and traditional jewellery-making working side by side.

Made by Jewellers, Not Just Machines

Our jewellery is designed and handmade in the UK, and there is still a huge amount of human work involved once a design leaves the computer.

The pieces are cast, worked, finished and checked by skilled hands, with the details brought to life through the finishing process.

With character jewellery in particular, those details matter enormously.

We don't simply want someone to look at a necklace and see a nice piece of jewellery.

We want a Labyrinth fan to look at it and immediately know who it is.

That little moment of recognition is what we're always chasing.

And Then Comes Approval...

There is another rather important stage when you're creating officially licensed jewellery.

The licensor has to love it too.

Our Labyrinth collection is officially licensed and created in collaboration with The Jim Henson Company, which means designs go through their approval process before they become part of the finished collection.

It's an important part of what makes officially licensed jewellery different.

We're not simply borrowing an image or creating our interpretation of a character. We're working within the world of Labyrinth, with the people responsible for protecting that world.

And yes — sending something you've spent months working on for approval still comes with a few nerves!

Getting that approval is always a lovely moment.

The Goblin King Has Arrived

The finished Jareth design is now available in Sterling Silver and Bronze, joining some rather familiar faces already living in our little corner of the Labyrinth.

Ludo. The Worm. Sir Didymus. The Door Knockers. The Goblin King's Crystal Ball.

And we're not quite finished with Jareth's world yet.

We've also explored another unmistakable piece of Goblin King imagery with the Goblin King's hand, while our new Goblin King Mask design is getting ready to make its entrance.

That one deserves a moment of its own.

Why Labyrinth Still Matters 40 Years Later

Perhaps that's the loveliest part of working on this collection.

We're not designing around something that simply happens to be 40 years old.

We're working with a story people still genuinely love.

Fans remember seeing Labyrinth for the first time. They remember the characters that frightened them, made them laugh or completely fascinated them.

They remember Bowie's songs.

They remember Jareth.

And new audiences continue to discover all of it.

There is something wonderfully strange, imaginative and handcrafted about Labyrinth that hasn't really dated. If anything, in a world where so much can now be created digitally, the physical artistry behind the film feels even more special.

Perhaps that's why turning a tiny piece of that world into something physical feels so fitting to us.

Something made to be held.

Something made to be worn.

And something that quietly says, "Yes, I know the way through the Labyrinth too."

Here's to Another 40 Years

Being trusted to create jewellery based on characters people have loved for decades is something we never take lightly.

From that first idea, through CAD and mould making, to our jewellers' benches and finally The Jim Henson Company's approval, an enormous amount happens before one of our pieces reaches its new owner.

And that's exactly how we like it.

Because for us, character jewellery should be more than merchandise.

It should feel like a tiny piece of the story.

Happy 40th anniversary, Labyrinth. ✨

Discover the Labyrinth Jewellery Collection