Scroll on down to see images of more of my work!

1: Bird brooch series

These are some of my bird brooches: some of the most recent ones are shown first. I began making the series for my graduation collection. The early brooches won first prize from The Goldsmiths' Company, and I exhibited them at New Designers 2007 and then around the country that autumn (The Barbican and SDC Gallery in London, Kath Libbert's Jewellery Gallery in Saltaire, Diana Porter in Bristol, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen in Bovey Tracey, New Ashgate Gallery in Farnham). Three of the brooches can also be seen in 'Adorn' - a great book by Amanda Mansell.

Since then I've been gradually adding to the series - and gradually saying goodbye as some get sold! They're all made from a basic palette of walnut, silver, and 18 carat gold. Some of the earlier laser welded ones include stainless steel and mild steel. I used wood as it's used traditionally for portraying birds, and a visit to see some decoy duck carvers at work was seminal in me developing my style. It helped me to understand that I wanted to convey the feelings I got from seeing birds, not just what I saw. As a result most of my work is still abstract rather than figurative.

2: Sketch collection

This collection grew directly out of the bird brooches: you can see the same shapes. These earrings, necklaces, and rings aim to capture a sense of the exuberance of birds flapping with the joy of freedom when they come out of confinement. 

3: Doodles and scribbles

These pieces followed on from the 'sketch' collection.  They originated in a workshop I did on drawing sounds at the City Lit, where we drew the sounds of music or sounds of the city streets at night. The naming of the collection is a response to people at shows saying the sketch jewellery reminded them of doodles or scribbles - they're quite different things to me! Another influence in this collection is the graffiti on city streets that can hold so much energy and spontaneity: it can be quite fantastic. A lot of my jewellery is about capturing feelings, energy, and a sense of the moment.

4: Nest collection

The jewellery in this collection was inspired by all the nest making activity going on in my garden in the spring. As well as densely packed networks of twiggy lines some of the pieces include precious elements such as gold or gems.