Inspirations
The main inspirations for this collection came from my love of textures in jewellery and ancient jewellery designs.
Ancient jewellery (such as Etruscan, Roman and European Middle Ages) frequently has simple yet flowing patterns, which often include negative space and repeated shapes and these come to the fore in this collection through details such as circles within circles and intertwining elements.
Texture in fine jewellery tends to focus on exquisite finish (smoothness, polishing, etc) whilst I enjoy creating these finer elements I also love the roughness of the textures developed using rougher techniques such as sand casting.
Developing a discordant juxtaposition in a piece (using ancient and modern techniques, rough and smooth, organic yet fine detail) gives the piece depth, rooted in the past but with a modern arc.
Gemstones also play a key role in my designs - the stones either playing an important part in the meaning of a piece - such as birthstones, or to form a key focus of the piece (London Blue topaz is used extensively to reflect the colour of the sea surrounding Cornwall, where I grew up and most of my sand collection comes from).
About The Sand and Fine Collection
The Collection
In creating the sand and fine collection I wanted to create wearable timeless pieces, each piece should tell its own story but be part of the whole.
The collection originated as part of my final project for my Diploma in Fine Jewellery, but has expanded beyond that, some pieces which appear in the collection are commissions, and many are new ideas which have developed after the diploma.
In addition to creating complex statement pieces such as the circle in circle pendant, and the cluster ring I wanted to create some pieces which were more accessible, and wearable, these are simpler in design and fewer high end materials.
I hope you enjoy the collection as much as I did creating it.