Visit Ian Flaherty at his studio and you'll find him working at the coal face with his subordinates, unafraid to get his hands dirty. A Scouser by birth and the son of a builder he chose a different career path that lead him out of working class Liverpool and into London, the fashion capitol of the world.

After designing for many prestigious brand names Ian Flaherty thought it was time to harness his energies and direct them toward developing his own brand. It's been a long road from Liverpool, now his delightful designer cufflinks are displayed in some of the most famous department stores around the world, including Selfridges and John Lewis (UK), Nordstroms (USA) David Jones (Australia) plus stores in Japan with un-pronounceable names.

The cufflink market has become crowded as designer brands cash in on the growing popularity of designer silver cufflinks. Plus there is the lure of manufacturing in Asia as a way to increase profits, but not without risk of negative effect on your reputation. Increasing profits at your customer's expense does not make good long term business sense. Ian's a big fan of traditional British craftsmanship and prefers the workmanship he gets from his own Battersea studio.

Ian literally draws his design inspiration from the world around him. He's always looking at patterns and reflections, sketching things that catch his eye as he walks down the street.

Ian's designs are hand cast in pure English pewter, because it gives the most accurate result. Each item is double plated in rhodium, a precious metal derived from platinum, and polished before being hand-enamelled or inset with Swarovski Crystals. Then polished and inspected again to make sure it's flawless. Rhodium prevents tarnishing and adds functionality to form making them extremely hard wearing, less likely to be scarred thus adding value. His cufflinks don't tarnish and neither will his reputation. His customers keep coming back for more precisely because he does not cut corners.

He continues his work happily labelled "the quiet achiever", carving out a name for himself in the fashion capitol of the world. The only thing that overshadows Ian's immense talent is his sincerity; his working class principles remain intact.

Having a pair of his fashion accessories in your collection is a must; you'll reveal their unique story each time you bind your links to cuff.

A closing historic anecdote: Swank Inc a popular designer and manufacturer of men's cufflinks were incorporated on April 17, 1936. When Cufflinks peaked in the 1960's they were making 12 million a year. Even though these were aimed at the lowest end of the market, retailing for an average of $2.50 a pair, that still adds up to a lot of men wearing cufflinks. These days the figure is closer to 200,000, but cufflinks are making a strong comeback with gross sales having increased consistently over the last ten years, while the French cuff continues to be the most prestigious type of shirt.

The most expensive cufflinks ever sold were a pair given to the soon-to-be

King Edward VIII by his later wife Wallis Simpson. These featured diamonds set in platinum and sold at auction for $440,000. The most a pair of Flaherty cufflinks will cost you is £67.00.