Studio Note No. 01: Origin Story

This first note is an origin story of sorts. Not the neat, linear version where a person discovers their calling and everything falls into place, but the messier reality of how I found my way to jewellery through clothing, confidence and an oversized beaded bead.

 

The Uniform

Before I became a jeweller, I worked as an interior designer.

Like many designers of that era, I’d adopted what was considered the professional design uniform. These days it might be called dressing like an architect, though perhaps with fewer turtlenecks. Nearly all black everything. Interesting cuts. Contrasting textures. A careful balance between looking creative and looking competent.

I loved it.

At five-foot-something-very-small, black gave me a physical presence I felt I lacked. Bold colour would have done that too but black also helped offset what I was convinced was a youthful appearance that diminished my credibility. Whether that was true or not is another question entirely. These days I wouldn’t mind trading a little ahem, credibility, but it felt important at the time.

 

A Question of Confidence 

The uniform gave me confidence, but it also played me.

That became apparent when a client casually mentioned that when we first met, they had found me so 'fashionable' as to be intimidating.

I was taken aback.

Intimidating was probably the last word I would have used to describe myself. If anything, I spent too much time worrying I wouldn’t be taken seriously. My carefully constructed professional uniform had become a crutch, helping me to feel more confident while simultaneously communicating something I had never intended.

The comment stayed with me.

As a designer I was entering people's homes and asking them to trust me. I wanted clients to feel comfortable, understood and at ease. Being perceived as intimidating was not particularly helpful.

 

Looking for Colour

I think it was my husband who suggested introducing more colour into my wardrobe.

The problem was I couldn’t imagine how.

The clothes I felt most confident wearing always seemed to come in black. My uniform had become my identity. Whenever I looked at colourful clothing, it felt like someone else’s personality.

Jewellery, however, seemed different.

I started thinking that perhaps some eccentric jewellery could soften the severity of my wardrobe. Something colourful. Something playful. Something unexpected.

At the time my making skills extended to knitting and sewing. I remember crocheting a floral brooch and making a necklace from oversized wooden beads knotted into a colourful fabric tube with an exaggerated bow closure.

There were certainly more sophisticated options available. I just hadn’t discovered contemporary jewellery yet.

 

A Strange Object

One day I came across an enormous multi-coloured bead made from other, smaller beads and suspended on a brightly coloured rope.

I found it intriguing, but something wasn’t right, mass produced and poorly made, I thought I’d to make my own, better version. Gotta love the hubris.

I went home and typed “beaded bead” into Google.

That was a mistake. 

Or perhaps the best decision I ever made.

 

Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

Until then I had never paid much attention to seed beads.

What followed was one of those wonderful rabbit holes that completely alters the course of a life. Experiment followed experiment. Techniques led to materials. Materials led to ideas. Ideas led to making.

Years later I am still inhabiting that rabbit hole.

The colourful object I had hoped might soften an all black wardrobe turned out to be a doorway into something much larger.

 

Looking Back

Looking back now, I don’t think I was ever really searching for jewellery.

What I was searching for was a way to express something that clothing alone couldn’t quite articulate.

I’ve since come to realise that the objects we choose to wear often communicate things that are difficult to put into words. Confidence. Difference. Curiosity. Individuality. Belonging. Sometimes several of those things at once.

That question continues to sit at the centre of my practice today.

Whether I’m working with seed beads, unusual stones, random ephemera or precious metals, I’m interested in creating objects that allow people to express something distinct about themselves rather than conform to an existing idea of what jewellery, or a professional wardrobe for that matter, should be.

In some ways, I’m still searching for the same thing I was back then.

I’m just making it now.

 

Continue reading: Studio Note No. 02: Unrepeatable Plots.