I make contemporary statement jewellery from found objects combined with sustainable semi-precious stones, linked together with hammered eco-silver, recycled gold and re-purposed brass chains and fused recycled silver pieces.
I love living in St Austell, Cornwall where I can spend plenty of time outdoors on local beaches and in the woods with my family and dogs, collecting beach plastic, sea-glass, driftwood, ghostnet, twigs and rusty metal.
Using recycled materials and basically ‘rubbish’ in this way is a sustainable way of creating unique pieces that aren’t a strain on new resources and whose material components are traceable.
I’ve also sourced traceable boulder opals from Australia which are then set in recycled gold and eco-silver for magically coloured statement rings and pendants; and I can collect amethysts, aquamarine and other crystals from local disused clay pits in Cornwall to make into claw-set rings and combined with found rust to make statement necklaces.
I like to challenge ideas of preciousness by combining these found materials with gold and semi-precious stones so that they are appreciated in the same piece, in the same way: so that we recycle plastic as well as we do gold.
As well as making and selling my jewellery through over 50 stockists in the UK, USA, France and Hong Kong I teach workshops for adults locally and at West Dean College in Chichester; I offer free workshops and mentoring for local teenagers through my School of Make and I set up a group for women artists, Terramater Art, with my friend, painter Karen McEndo. Ten of us regularly exhibit at Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens near Penzance, Royal Cornwall Museum in Truro and Penwith Gallery in St Ives. Our themes always reflect our concern for the environment and climate change.
