Well we've finally gone and done it - moved full time to Somerset - bye bye London!

It's now nearly seven years ago that I quit my job as CEO of a charity and went back to university to retrain as a jewellery designer. Having made that career change - and subsequently established myself as a designer/maker - moving to the country was the logical next step in the process of simplifying my life and downshifting. It certainly feels like a new and very different phase: I've spent all my adult life living in the inner city, and have never lived in the country before.

I'm really going to miss our old house in London, which really was a very special house, but at least I know that the new occupants are really nice people who already love their new home and will take good care of her.

I'm going to miss the old London garden in particular, as it really was my favourite place, and I spent many happy hours there. 

When we took on this little country cottage the garden was a complete wilderness: you had to slash your way through to the end, and peep through bushes to get a glimpse of the view beyond. It was sad, because the cottage had been a weekend retreat for my in-laws and in it's prime had been very well tended.

Anyway, with a major renovation on our hands, the garden had to be razed. Luckily a friend of mine fostered the few plants we could salvage.

The garden became a building site. At least this gave us an idea of how much space we had, which was much more than we'd expected.

We planned a terrace next to the house, then a cottage garden, then fruit and vegetable beds (that was before we got the allotment!), and then a gravel garden with another terrace at the end overlooking the valley. In case you hadn't gathered - it's a long thin garden!

The bare earth stage was very difficult for me: I missed the lushness of my mature London garden! We've spent a lot of time this spring visiting plant sales and open gardens, and with the addition of kind donations and lots of hard work, the garden is now looking quite green and floriferous. Amazing when you consider that the first plant only went in one year ago! Of course the hedges help a lot. Wish I could think of a good way to use all those redundant plastic plant pots...

Gardening's always a bit of trial and error with the hens. I love the way free-ranging hens bring the garden to life, so in general my policy is that plants have to stand up for themselves against the hens: they don't get mollycoddled. We've made an exception with the vegetable beds which as you can see are netted, and the new roses are getting protected until they're a bit bigger. But apart from them, every plant gets taste tested! Bizarrely, the hens seem to go for different things at different times: the alchemilla mollis which was very hen-pecked in London is completely ignored here! 

A real bonus is the view from the end of the garden, which emerged once the 'hedge' was hacked down. It's terrific (though often also terrifically windy). I'm looking forward to having the terrace that overlooks it a bit more sorted: at the moment it's just a pile of gravel with a bench in the middle!

Anyway - big move done! I'm now settling into life in the country... and hopefully a few more regular blog posts! 

 

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. 

So glad to hear I've been selected for the one day designers sale at Craft Central on Tuesday 15th February! 

Should be fun, with 40 UK designers of jewellery, fashion and accessories all selling direct to the public. Previews of new collections, discounted bargains from previous collections: only problem is that it's likely to be too busy for me to get much of a look around!

Open now till 6pm: 90 designer makers selling direct! Homeware, fashion, jewellery, gifts, and cake! www.craftcentral.org.uk

 

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!)

 

www.platformjewellery.com

Platform contemporary jewellery gallery, 31 Greville Street, Hatton Garden, London EC1N 8AF

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!

If you're in the area do please come along - this is what you'll find: 

Two London markets in one weekend: this morning we went to Columbia Road flower market for breakfast. Used to be our regular Sunday morning haunt when we lived in Stoke Newington.

Smoked salmon and cream cheese beigels eaten outside with a continual procession of plant-carrying people to watch.

Less touristy than Borough Market: I guess its easier for tourists to consume food than flowers.

Several buskers, of which 'pluck' were definitely the best.

The street now has loads of interior design and fashion shops: some good, some a bit twee.

One of my favourite jewellers, Buddug has her shop there. Lovely sketchy graphic jewellery: great fun. Looks so spontaneous. It's her black and white enamel collection I really love, and this time some spoons I hadn't seen before.

Went to buy more printing materials at Intaglio Printmaker the other day. It's conveniently close to Borough Market, which I love, so I had a good excuse for a visit. The market is different every time I go - always new and interesting foody opportunities. More touristy and expensive now than in the early days, but still worth returning to.

Bought some great cheese for lunch, and coffee from the Monmouth Coffee Company, who are definitely one of the top London coffee venues.

Took the photos with 'Hipstamatic' app on my iPhone, which gives a vintage feel to the images. Good stuff: thanks for the recommendation Daniele!

It's the countdown now: the private view of Richmond Art and Contemporary Designer Craft Fair is tonight and the Fair runs from 10am - 5pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I've been making manically to make sure I've enough stock - both prints and jewellery. I'll put a panel on the right with a map until the show is over.

Our design pop-up shop opens in Clerkenwell tomorrow night, and I'm up to my eyes in preparations. There will be work from 10 designers: some fantastic things including textiles, ceramics, and of course jewellery!

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.