How did I decide on jewellery?

People often ask me how I got into jewellery design, being the niche career path it is, and so I thought I would give you a brief synopsis on how it all started….

Throughout school, art and photography were where I excelled and with a lack of enthusiasm for academia, it was always clear to me that I was going to head down the creative route. I was lucky enough to go to a school that didn’t see art as a ‘soft’ subject (which I now realise was so incredibly lucky as otherwise I am not quite sure where I would’ve ended up…) and with that and a love for art in general, I had no reservations in applying to art school. At this point I had absolutely no clue what a creative career looked like and so applied to do an art foundation at Central Saint Martins. Here I was able to try all sorts of paths including fashion, 3D design, graphics, fine art, accessory design, ceramics and footwear. I have always been interested in fashion and sculpture and after discovering metal work I realised jewellery design ticked all the boxes. It was pretty much mini sculptures you could wear. From here I went on to study a BA in Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martins. On completing the course and having had four years of solid experimenting and making, I wasn't really sure what path I wanted to take. After a year of assisting a jeweller in the workshop post graduation, I was slightly fed up with making and design. However I still loved the jewellery world and went into the industry on the marketing side. I worked at a small independant jewellers, and then went on to work in marketing at Goldsmiths’ Fair where I had the chance to visit many workshops of established independent jewellers and silversmiths. 

Here I began to feel inspired again and very slowly started making a new collection on the side of full time work. It was nothing more than a hobby and I sold a few pieces here and there. I had made an amazing group of friends from my jewellery course and together we started the Jewellery Pop-Up which I made pieces for and the brand slowly began to develop. (Sadly we haven’t been able to pop up this year, but will be back!). 

After Goldsmiths’ Fair, I continued to work in marketing but moved on to work at South Bank London where I have been working with some of London’s amazing cultural institutions such as National Theatre, Southbank Centre and the Imperial War Museum. Here I learnt a huge amount about arts marketing. Not working in jewellery full time allowed me the head space to think about the brand more outside of work hours and I began to work on it more seriously alongside my 9-5. 

As the arts have sadly suffered through coronavirus, I got furloughed and recently made redundant from my job at South Bank. It feels wrong to say being furloughed came at a good time… but it gave me a completely rare six months to fully focus on the brand, to really push it and get it on track to where I want it to be. Over the last six months I have developed new collections, worked on photo shoots, made the brand more sustainable by changing to all recycled metal and packaging and just generally got a clearer direction of where I want to take it. There is still SO much I want to do with it and I have so many ideas brewing.

With the brand now gaining momentum I cannot say thank you enough to everyone who has supported me, particularly throughout this weird old time. Every single order makes me so completely beyond happy, and knowing people are walking around wearing designs I have put so much time and hard work into fills me with so much joy. I am delighted you have all joined me from what I consider the beginning and I can’t wait to see where the brand goes. I really can’t say THANK YOU enough!