 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
 |  |
About
I am a Jewellery designer/maker working by
hand from my studio in Hayle, Cornwall
I make handmade, layered pieces of Jewellery using precious metals, enamel, precious and semi-precious stones, bio resins and other materials.
I explore new techniques wherever I can and my practice has continued to grow and develop over two decades. I'm committed to running my business sustainably in every sense of the word- attempting to work harmoniously with my materials, my life and the world around me.
I've been running my business for 20 years and making jewellery for longer. I work from a (beautifully light) studio that I built at home after many years in various warehouses/semi derelict buildings and other spaces where makers find studios. I'm from Cornwall originally but left for a very long time- 10 years of which was spent living and working in America. It was in New York that I first took courses in mould making and jewellery design and developed and sold my first pieces.
In the subsequent years I sold and exhibited nationally and internationally working with layered, collaged resins. I took part in projects, exhibitions and shows with Falmouth University, Nesta, Museum and Libraries archives, The Royal Academy of Art, Creative Kernow, Craft Festival and many more. On having children I found that I needed to scale it back and focus on making the work. The making has carried me through a great many things-and I continue to be fascinated by the processes and somehow it brings me great peace. I make my jewellery respectfully and by hand-using recycled metals and building it to last. The work changes year to year, season to season but there are strong themes and motifs running throughout. I sell through a few selected galleries, online and work to commission. I make my work and run my business with an integrity and professionalism that underpins my entire practice. I used to worry that I would run out of ideas-but I never have.
My work is handmade piece by piece in my studio and time and care is taken with every aspect of the making.
My work has changed a lot over the years and my current pieces are a product of living and working by the miles of windswept sand beaches that are typical of the North coast of Cornwall. The space, the huge gloomy skies, the restless sea and horizon lines of this coastline have worked their way in
​
The beaches are bordered by the Towans-miles of dunes filled with shells, bones, worn wood and other blasted and washed up things-and this worn, eroded feel has slowly crossed into my making. Its a post industrial landscape -with rusted metal, wheels, winches, slipways, wrecks and acres of collapsed bricks exposed and then covered again, year on year, by the endlessly shifting sands.The harbour at the Estuary head was rigourously sluiced for shipping-refilling its channels with sand with each tide. In the Towans the outlines of the dynamite bunkers and train lines roll away into soft shapes under dune grass. This layering-slippage-breaking down of things I suppose- talks to me. The shifting tidal landscape and low skies blurring everything.
I am very interested in combining materials and trying new ways of working with them. I am currently using a Bio Resin that allows me to embed again and I'm also enjoying working layers of enamel over heavily textured and contoured metal. I tend to layer and then work away the colours and metals for this broken down worn away feel. I'm exploring rings at the moment- combining the enamel with gold, set stones or resin and also heavily textured pieces. I like mixing metals and I make a lot of jewellery that combines silver and gold or different golds or gold and enamel- as well as gravitating toward things that are paired or intertwined.
Sustainability
means a lot of different things to me.
It involves my materials, chemical and packaging choices- of course- but also how I make ( and mend) my work, how I run my business and live my life
I am committed to keeping my work as low impact as possible environmentally and I reuse a great many materials. Many of my pieces involve melted and reworked silver and gold, the bullion I use in the 1st instance is already recyled, and my resin is a bio resin produced from reused materials. All of my cleaning agents and pickles are non toxic and my packaging- Boxes, ribbon, tissue paper and cardboard mailers- is made from recycled materials and is 100% recyclable. I have begun to use fewer boxes and cotton pouches for long term use instead. I post everything from my walkable local post office My making and my business have had many incarnations over the years and I have chosen to go back to working on a smaller scale, keeping things local whilst my children are young. Its important to me to be present in every area of my life and that my business is part of this balance. I tend to not accept last minute rush commissions- but am otherwise very accomodating. Studio visists can be tricky as I now work from where I live and they impact my family- so they are not always possible. I create new work all the time but I also mend or clean any piece Ive ever made and will continue to do so as long as you care to wear it. I do my best to make my business considered, fair and genuine in all instances. ​