RODERICK Harris is a man who is truly passionate about what he does – a diamond geezer, if you’ll excuse the obvious pun.

He is the man behind Why Jewellers in Corfe Castle which, despite its appearance as a small rural shop in picturesque Purbeck, has built up a worldwide reputation.

And the story behind it conjures up romantic images as well.

Roderick said: “The story goes back to the late 1800s. My family started up a tea plantation in Sri Lanka.

“My grandfather used to bring back little sapphires for my mother when she was a child and that got her interested.

“My mother and father used to cut them and that’s how my interest got going. I got interested in the jewellery side and learnt the bare bones of gold-smithing and then got into the design side.

“I opened up the business in 1987.

“Apart from designing and creating jewellery we had a real emphasis on fine white diamonds.”

He started offering top-grade diamonds to customers before finding diamond dealers in Sri Lanka.

“We established links there with cutters and sapphire dealers and we built up a unique collection of blue sapphires.

“We started up a small sapphire mining opportunity in Sri Lanka and that was set up on a co-operative basis.

“We ran that for a number of years,” he said.

Those stones range in price from £100 to £15,000 and Roderick said it was one of the finest collections in Britain and something that Why was proud of.

He added: “It’s been the core of our business. Our interest is in exploring the world of gem stones.

“We moved into natural coloured diamonds. Although they’re extraordinarily rare and unique, they’re also accessible to people.

“We get people coming in for a modest engagement ring and at the other end of the spectrum we have clients who are collecting.”

He said the most expensive thing he’d sold was a natural blue coloured diamond for a “six figure sum”.

Roderick added: “Although we’re in a very tucked away rural location, with these sort of stones there are only about 12 cutters dealing with these worldwide.

“We then moved into Solaris diamonds, which are yellow diamonds.”

Why has been awarded a Fairtrade Gold Licence and was invited to join the London Diamond Bourse, one of the industry’s biggest honours.

The jeweller also supports the Sightsavers charity through these diamonds and is donating five per cent of each sale – so far £1,800 has been donated through the sale of just three stones.

“We think that jewellery should not just be about the end product, it should bring the most benefit to the chain of suppliers,” added Roderick.

Why is now running a design competition with Parkstone Grammar School, which is also open to the public, to design a piece of jewellery.

The winner gets their design made up.

It is clear that this is an industry that Roderick is highly passionate about – and one where you need to constantly evolve.

He added: “It is estimated that most diamond deposits have been discovered around the world. At the same time, the demand for diamonds is building.

“We have clients from all over Britain and abroad.

“The whole diamond trade is based on integrity and trust.

“When you’re dealing at this level people do a handshake and your word is your bond.

“I love the fact that that trade works on that basis.”