Rings 2020

4th April - 31st October 2020

This year our ring exhibition has been carefully curated to showcase beautiful handcrafted rings suitable for engagements, weddings and special anniversaries.  This exhibition will evolve over time as more send us their stunning rings.

Jean Scott-Moncrieff rings

Wedding

 

Olivia Schlevogt

Olivia was born and grew up in a small South Germany town, which has acquired the name “Gold and Silver town” because of its jewellery and silversmithing history. Through this and her family of famous glassmakers and jewellers she was greatly influenced from an early age to become a jeweller.  Olivia spend 4 years as an apprentice in a well-known jewellery company in Germany before continuing her training at the Kent Institute of Art and Design in Rochester and then setting up her own business in 1999.  Olivia’s work is characterised by strong, clear and simple shapes, softened with a matt texture and surface detail.  The geometric forms are made in gold or silver and detailed with fused yellow and white gold ornamentation, sometimes adding Diamonds to highlight the design and including precious and semi-precious stones.  Olivia creates one off pieces or small collections of characteristic design and high quality craftsmanship. 

 

Sally Grant

Sally’s love of beautiful design and craftsmanship has informed her work from the very beginning.  She studied 3 Dimensional Design at Grays School of Art in Aberdeen and has gone on to work in a number of creative environments including marketing for a design consultancy, gallery assistant and florist while establishing her own jewellery business.  Sally’s most inspiring career move was to undertake a two year apprenticeship with the talented Tony Thomson in Oxford where she learned all aspects of jewellery making in precious metals, gold, silver and platinum and was introduced to the world of gemstones.  Tony’s workshop was filled with a lifelong collection of unusual fossils and stones gathered from all over the world.  This inspiration still informs Sally’s work today.

 

 

 

 

 

Anniversary

 

 

Susanna Hanl

Susanna is a self-taught jeweller based in Yorkshire.  She draws inspiration from almost anything, nature, architecture, art, conversations and the materials she uses.  Stones sometimes dictate a certain way of setting, but she loves to experiment and also to see what happens if she lets materials do their own thing.  Sometimes making mistakes creates something new and exciting too.  All of Susanna’s pieces are handmade one off pieces that are as unique as the people who wear them.

 

Jean Scott-Moncrieff

Jean’s inspiration is rooted in her love of the artefacts of ancient cultures.  She admires the textures, colours and purity of design, and to see the marks of the tools that made each object beneath the subtle patina of age is to see their makers’ workings back through time.  In a direct link to those ancient craftsmen, Jean uses traditional hand tools to work with the metal; piercing, hammering and shaping with her designs developing as she works.  Fragments of gold are fused to silver and some pieces are oxidised for depth of colour, then each piece is hand finished with fine emery papers, with edges brightly burnished.  Simplicity of line and form are enhanced with carefully selected gemstones including pearls, spinels, coloured diamonds and topaz.  All the work is hand made in her Sussex workshop radiating her flair for design and attention to detail.

 

Barbara Yarde

Barbara studied jewellery and silversmithing at Sir John Cass University in London.  As a trained goldsmith her attention to precision and detail is reflected in all of her work.  Each piece is handmade in her workshop in London, where she uses mainly sterling silver, plated in 18ct gold, and a variety of techniques, combining this precious metal with traditional processes such as wax carving, Keum- Boo (fine gold fusing) and reticulation.  Barbara’s pieces of jewellery are influenced by her travels and everyday life.  Inspiration has come from such places as India, Morocco, Egypt and London fuelling her imagination and influencing her jewellery.