Really looking forward to visiting New Designers 2011 this week. I had such a fantastic time there myself four years ago that I get a buzz just from the anticipation! 

This year I'll be visiting on behalf of the Designer Jewellers Group, as every year we select six of the best new jewellery designer makers to join us in our winter show at the Barbican, London. There'll be seven of us on the selection panel this time. We all separately select our favourites and then whittle down the choices: usually a very hard job!

Revisiting the chosen few afterwards to reveal our identities and make offers can be surprisingly emotional as we're all quite excited!

It'll be great to see three of our last year's group exhibiting again this year in the 'One Year On' section: Tom McDowell, Elizabeth Humble, and Nicola Mather.

Two bits of advice to people exhibiting for the first time: please keep a good stock of postcards to hand (we use them to vote for you), and also do use the experience to get used to talking to people about your work! I know it's hard, but be there, next to it, make eye contact, and smile! You really can't tell who's got a great offer up their sleeve, and competition is strong. If we haven't been able to talk to you it's much harder to make a good case for selecting you even if we love your work.

Good luck to everyone!

May is a month of preparation in my studio, because June is show month! Firstly I'll be setting up in the Barbican for the Designer Jewellers Group summer show, which opens on Friday 3rd June and runs through till 22nd.

London Jewellery Week is from 6th - 12th June, and at that time my work will be on show in the Barbican, Studio Fusion, and Platform Gallery in Hatton Garden.

The bad news is that I won't be in London myself then: however the good news is I'll be heading down to Devon for The Contemporary Craft Fair in Bovey Tracey! If it's anything like last year, this'll be great fun, with 165 top UK designer makers from all disciplines, and loads of activities going on. Well worth a visit. 

As the end of our DJG winter 2010 show approaches, it's time for me to feature Nicola Mather, the sixth new designer who exhibited with us at the Barbican this year.

Nicola makes beautiful and ethereal jewellery in stainless steel and silver.

Using mushrooms and seeds she collects as tools to make prints, Nicola develops unique and interesting patterns: these patterns inspire and inform her jewellery. 

You can see the wonderfully detailed textures in this poppy seed brooch created by etching.

Nicola's laser welded earrings have been a best seller in the show this year.

Delicately sculptural and with a dream-like quality, it's no wonder Nicola's already doing so well.

When the DJG selection team visits New Designers to choose our six new jewellers for the year it's a very democratic affair. Just like the buying public we all have our own personal preferences, which is great because then we end up with a more varied and interesting show. It does mean though that as much as I admire all our new makers, I wouldn't want to wear all their jewellery myself. I was however immediately drawn to Alice O'Neill's jewellery on a personal level, and would love to be able to wear it! 

Alice is inspired by 'functional paraphernalia' and particularly things that relate to clothes and their making. In practice this means that she constructs necklaces and cufflinks from washing symbols, bases hair pins on scissors, and creates rings that reference needles. 

One thing I really admire about Alice is the way she's prepared to push boundaries and be a bit more adventurous in her jewellery. This image shows one of her trademark 'button brooches'. These sleek silver brooches slide onto vintage buttons that the wearer sews onto their clothes... if you can bear to detach them from slither of beautiful antique fabric they're sold with, that is.

This adjustable 'hook and eye' necklace combines beautifully finished gold-plated silver with a 'chain' of lace: very on-trend with it's nod to burlesque.

Quirky, tactile, original, and contemporary: Alice's jewellery is simply gorgeous!

You can still see and buy Alice's lovely work at the DJG pop-up shop in the Barbican from 27th December - 5th January.

We actually spotted (and loved) Victoria Walker's work at New Designers 2009, and so we were delighted to find her again in the 'One Year On' section in this year's show. There was no doubt in our minds that she'd make a great exhibitor at the Barbican this year.

This photo of Victoria exhibiting at Hidden Art in Cornwall this summer show how exceptionally mature her work is for someone who graduated so recently: just like her fantastic stand, her work is amazing, with incredible attention to detail.

Fascinated by movement and natural forms, Victoria's jewellery often has moving parts, as you can see in this beautiful sterling silver and 18ct gold Daisy Locket.

This 'Fly Away' pendant illustrates her idea that 'sometimes the most beautiful or precious elements are hidden beneath the surface': a diamond is nestled between the wings.

Having already exhibited at the Contemporary Craft Fair at Bovey Tracey and won a bursary from The Goldsmiths' Company for her mechanical locket designs, Victoria is already clearly having great success in her career. But to really appreciate the quality of her work you do need to see it and handle it, which you can do now at the DJG pop-up shop Barbican, London every day until 23rd December, and then again from 27th December - 5th January.

Profiling another of the new designers we've selected to exhibit at the Designer Jewellers Group show at the Barbican this winter: Elizabeth Humble.

Elizabeth impressed me right away as I walked round at the New Designers show last July because she actually approached me and was immediately friendly and ready to talk about her work. That may not seem much, but when some graduates have to be hunted down and winkled out of their bored and self conscious clumps, Elizabeth's approach definitely stood out. 

On seeing her jewellery I wasn't surprised to hear that Elizabeth had won the prestigious Goldsmiths' Company Jewellery Award, and as a result would be designing an exclusive commercial collection for luxury jewellery brand Astley Clarke. 

Elizabeth's main source of inspiration is the rugged and beautiful landscape of the west coast of Scotland. She begins by drawing weather-beaten hillsides and areas of coastal erosion in her sketchbook on field trips. 

Back in the workshop she works on selecting details and structures from her drawings that she can translate into metal. Layering silver wires and using hand-forming techniques, Elizabeth has developed a collection that includes brooches, necklaces, earrings, and rings.

The work that Elizabeth has on display in the Barbican is stunning and unique. On display from 8am to 11pm but only on sale from 12 midday till 8pm, in the DJG pop-up shop by the Food Hall. Not to be missed!

Meeting Tom McDowell at New Designers last July was a hoot. His new jewellery collection - based on children's drawings - is so refreshingly different that we knew his colourful pieces would be a great addition to our exhibition at the Barbican this winter. 

Tom believes that the act of wearing jewellery is too often a formal activity, and that it's important for us to sometimes let go of the seriousness of being a grown-up. He works with children and through his jewellery seeks to share their fresh, fun outlook on life with adults. 

In his jewellery Tom uses anodised aluminium, silver, and a variety of other media. This knobbly kneed giraffe, for instance, has patches of flocking, making it very tactile. The birds often incorporate real feathers. Each piece conveys a real sense of personality, and I'm sure each will become particularly treasured once in the hands of the right owner. 

Beautifully designed and made, the silver rivets are often functional as well as decorative. Aluminium is an unforgiving material: not easy to work with, but Tom uses it in a way that maximises it's strengths: it's colourful, light in weight, and can be very graphic.This is jewellery that I think really will help to meet his aim of making the world a more smiley and enjoyable place. This little chicken brooch certainly works for me!

You can see and buy Tom's jewellery at the Designer Jewellers Group pop-up shop in the Barbican, London, from now until 23rd December 2010, and then again from 27th December - 5th January 2011.

 

I promised to write more about the six up-and-coming new designer makers we selected to join us in our Designer Jewellers Group Winter exhibition at the Barbican this year.

First up is Kayleigh Biggs.

Kayleigh says her jewellery is influenced by 'nostalgic narratives' and I can certainly read this in her gorgeous 'luxuriant necklace' (shown above). Referencing patterns past - which are of course very current - the pieces in this collection have a rich liveliness and flamboyance which is quite lavish.

In some of her pieces Kayleigh uses textiles alongside precious metals, and as well as traditional metalwork techniques she also uses the laser welder. The great thing about laser welding is that it allows you to use the high temperatures needed to weld precious metals together without burning more combustible materials because the intense beam is so very focused.

Kayleigh also gives her work a delicate gradated patina, 'antiquing' the surfaces in a particularly subtle way, and highlights the silver she uses with punctuation marks of gold.

 

 

Our winter show at the Barbican is now up and running! I love doing this show because one of the things that I really miss about my previous career is the team work: pulling together with a great group of people towards a shared goal is something I really enjoy. 

There are just over 30 of us in the Designer Jewellers Group and we work as a co-operative, each taking on different roles and tasks. Our aim is to make sure that we put on great shows and bring a variety of high quality designer jewellery to the buying public - and of course make some good sales!

 

 

One of the strengths of the group is its diversity. Different jewellers design, make and sell in so many different ways that there's always something to learn from each other. It also means that our show has a wide appeal: there's jewellery there for people with very different tastes and budgets. And as we're 'doing it for ourselves' the people on duty are always practicing jewellers who actually have work on display and know the other makers.

The other thing I really like is that my job with the group at the moment is co-ordinating the New Designers. Each year we select six of the best to join us in our winter show. We liaise and offer support to them over the summer and it's always a highlight of the exhibition to see the fantastic new work they bring. But that's a subject that deserves a post of it's own!

Do pop along to see the show: it's on every day from now until 5th January (except 24th, 25th, 26th December) from 12 midday till 8pm. On the ground floor of the Barbican Centre next to the new food hall (where you'll find great coffee, cakes and more!)

 

Been pretty busy recently. On Friday we visited New Designers to select 6 graduates for our Designer Jewellers Group Barbican winter exhibition, and today we closed down our DJG Barbican summer exhibition.

On the way home I popped back into New Designers but purely for pleasure this time! Only a quick visit to see the textiles, and it was great to spot the quirky, graphic work of textile and surface pattern designer Nicky Booth there.

Got London Jewellery week withdrawal symptoms? Need more jewellery (who doesn't)?! Well luckily twenty five members of the Designer Jewellers Group are currently exhibiting in the Barbican until 3rd July.

Open every day from 12 midday till 8pm, on the ground floor near the Waterside Cafe.

I was on duty yesterday and it was great fun, with live jazz in the evening.

We also have a whole double shelf full of cufflinks, in time for Father's Day on Sunday!

Three pieces of good news: firstly after 2 years as an associate member, I've now been elected as a full member of the Designer Jewellers Group. It's great because this gives me a continuing peer group to collaborate and network with, and also because the Barbican pop-up shops we run twice a year are one of my favourite outlets.

The second good thing is that I've been successful with my application to exhibit at the Wisley craft fair in April. The RHS gardens at Wisley are one of my favourites, especially the kitchen garden, where I took these photographs.

And the other good thing is that Lily's moult is over and she has started laying again. This means that the nest is now a rather busy spot, but more about that later!

I've just set up my work in the Barbican centre in London as part of the Designer Jewellers Group pop-up shop. It's all looking good: the work of 30 experienced jewellers and also 6 of the best new UK graduates (the ones we selected at New Designers in July).There's a terrific variety of jewellery there - starting at an unbelievable £5!

I love exhibiting in the Barbican: its so nice to be able to display my work how I want it and then go in and add to or change the display over the weeks as pieces sell!

We all work together as a group of designer jewellers and take it in turns to staff the shop. It makes a refreshing change both to work in a team rather than alone, and also to sell other people's jewellery as well as my own. I find it fascinating to see what people buy and how they make their choices.

Visited the 'New Designers' exhibition. Really strange to think it was two years ago that I was exhibiting there myself: in some ways it feels like yesterday, in other ways it's a life time ago. Either way I have very fond memories of it: I loved it.

It was great this year too. I was helping the Designer Jewellers Group select six graduates to exhibit with us in the Barbican this winter. Hard choices to make, and it took us ages and much debate! More about our choices another day, but in the meantime I just have to highlight Katie Almond's work: I couldn't resist buying a gorgeous jug from her. Glad I snapped it up quickly as she only had a few left, and those went soon after!