Born in Vienna in 1938, George Weil and his family were amongst the last to escape Antwerp for London in 1939.
Although not much is known about his early life, he did briefly attend Saint Martins School of Art in 1956. He studied sculpture and jewellery and described himself as a sculpture first and a jeweller second.
Sculptural flair can be seen in his jewellery designs which are modernist, abstract and asymmetrical. In 1960s and 70s jewellery, the single most important element was the overall stylistic impact of the piece and not the intrinsic value of the diverse elements used. Weil used precious stones, both cut and uncut. Silver and gold could be used together with diamonds and less valuable, inorganic or organic material such as pearls or wood.
He rarely took his pieces to the Assay Office in Hatton Garden consequently very few of his pieces have assay marks. Although lacking in assay marks, he worked almost always in 18ct yellow gold and platinum and his work is usually stamped 18CT and PLAT (18ct gold and platinum).
In 1969 George Weil was making pieces for Galerie Jean Renet which had opened in Bond Street and an exhibition of his work was held in 1971. He later moved to Hatton Garden.
According to Mahnaz Ispahani, of Mahnaz Collection in New York, Weil sold his jewellery business in London in 1979 and moved to Israel. There he began as a collector but became, and still is today, a maker of Japanese netsuke.
