The Jewellery Show

5th November 2016 - 7th January 2017

 

Every Christmas we select jewellers who are at the cutting edge of contemporary jewellery design to showcase pieces of jewellery in our Christmas exhibition programme.  This year is no exception as we explore brand new and exciting makers and those more established.  Silver, gold, acrylic, precious and semi-precious stones and much more besides is explored making an inspiring show for visitors to discover. 

 

Kathryn Williamson

Scottish contemporary silver and gold jewellery designer Kathryn Williamson’s jewellery is inspired by a personal treasure trove; found objects and fragments of pottery from beach walks around the Fife coast, museum artefacts and pattern from collected or inherited ceramics and fabric.  These elements inform Kathryn’s choice of balance, pattern and texture when designing her jewellery.  Elements of enamel, found pottery, acrylic and occasionally semi-precious stones are combined with silver textured or etched shapes to create an overall subtle blend of colour, harmony and pattern recreating the effects of living by the sea and a sense of calm and memory in the wearer.  Art school trained with over 12 years professional experience in the London jewellery industry, Kathryn moved back to her native Fife in 2000 to start her own business in her Pittenweem workshop overlooking the Firth of Forth.

 

Mandana Oskoui

Mandana creates abstract contemporary jewellery inspired by mineral formations incorporated into sleek, linear and playful designs.  She makes her stunning pieces from silver, gold and precious and semi-precious stones.  After completing a European Business degree in the UK and a European Management degree in Finland, Mandana pursued a career in business.  She enjoyed working for some of the World’s best known brands including Microsoft, Anheuser-Busch, Xerox and BT but in time, decided that her childhood passion for jewellery, fashion and design were where she really wanted to focus her energy, and future.  Returning to three further years of full-time study, she enrolled to Kensington and Chelsea College to learn about three-dimensional design, focusing on jewellery.

 

Wendy Sarah Pacey

Wendy creates beautiful, luxury acrylic jewellery from her studio on the Sussex coast.  Through use of a unique technique melding acrylic sheet with aluminium foils, together, they are transformed into a truly luxurious material, elegant and sensual.  The pieces are all carved and finished by hand giving a smooth, silky feel, which is also incredibly lightweight.  Wendy use of colour is unique and intuitive.  The colours can be lollipop bright and luscious, or opulently rich and shimmering.  The designs are very individual, often with a mid-century modern look.  This is grown-up acrylic, beautiful and wearable, covetable as any precious gem.

 

Rachel Jones

Rachel graduated from Middlesex University on their world-renowned Jewellery course before completing a Post-Graduate year at Bishopsland Educational Trust situated just outside of Reading.  Rachel has a wealth of jewellery experience and has worked for notable jewellers Ruth Tomlinson and Lin Cheung, designer of the 2012 Paralympic Medals. Inspired by repetitive patterns, architecture and her love of making, Rachel’s work encapsulates both organic and geometric forms.  Her latest collection called ‘Speckle’ uses traditional jewellery techniques including granulation, scoring and folding.  Hand fabricated square wire is formed to create frames or rings, while ‘speckles’ are fused together to create random and fluid forms.  Specks of gold are used with silver to create a bold contrast. 

 

Alison Phillips

Alison set up her workshop after graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2005, designing and creating work for Galleries and Exhibitions from her workshop in Dunblane.  Inspired by natural forms, from plants and vines, to the pattern left in the sand by the tide, Alison first records her ideas through sketches, drawings, and photography before translating her designs into silver, forming feminine and delicate pieces.  Her Keumboo Petal Collection was developed from her Etched Petal Collection and uses the ancient Korean technique of Keumboo to apply Gold to the surface of the Silver.  Using textured silver to form delicate silver petals, 23.5ct Gold is then applied as if "drawn" on the silver, to form delicate and feminine pieces.  Alison often uses Gemstones such as Pearl, Rose Quartz and Green Amethyst to add colour and contrast to the hand textured silver.

 

Rauni Higson

Rauni studied for 3 years at Lahti Institute in Finland.  She then graduated from the School of Jewellery in Birmingham.  From her studio in North Wales she creates pieces both sculptural and functional, striking enough to stand alone, but intended to be used and enjoyed.  Inspired by the natural world, particularly the dramatic mountains and coastline of Snowdonia, she strives to capture something of the beauty of the natural world, without directly imitating it.  Rauni is currently Chair of Contemporary British Silversmiths, a member of the Maker’s Guild in Wales and was made a Liveryman of the Goldsmith’s Company in 2015.  Rauni’s fold forming techniques end with variable results.  “I love the aesthetic results, the really strong lightweight structures but also the magic moment of reveal at the end.  I experiment a lot in copper, making models and prototypes.  Experience means the results become more predictable, and pitfalls are more avoidable, but the planning process doesn’t have an end point before making begins.  Chance is always a welcome part of the design process for me.  Fold-forming results in an imperfect symmetry which is very common in nature.  The forms that emerge are often reminiscent of growth patterns found in plants, fungi, corals and shells.”

 

Julia Smith

Julia is a Herefordshire based jeweller, completing her BA (hons) in Contemporary Applied Arts at Hereford College of Arts.  A love of antique scientific instruments led her to explore the workings of Orreries and their movement.  This then introduced the kinetic element in her work, and subsequently her highly individual Kinetic Rings.  These signature pieces were the starting point for her jewellery which has now developed into her current Lunar range.  The majority of her work is hand formed and developed in her own workshop.  She also sets her own stones and strings her own pearls and semi-precious beads.  Some of the work is oxidised to form contrasting elements.

 

Rebecca Sarah Black

Rebecca graduated in 2014 and has established herself as a Scottish contemporary jewellery designer and bone smith.  She creates statement pieces of jewellery inspired by the harsh landscape of the coastline and traditional Scottish folklore.  Reacting and responding to this she designs work that evokes a sense of place within the wearer by hand carving her collections from ethically sourced bovine bone, combined with precious metal.  Working in a transformative process, she takes material that has no precious quality and builds them up or carves them into something new, complex and emotive, giving her work a new precious quality.  Her work mimics the forms of rough natural rocks of the shore line, reflecting the shapes and forms she finds visually inspiring, and evokes a natural feeling of connection to the landscape and sense of place within the wearer.