What first inspired you to become a jewellery designer?

I’ve always enjoyed making things and have always loved jewellery so it made sense to make it myself! I completed a Foundation course in Art & Design then a degree in Jewellery & Silversmithing.

What items do you mainly make?

I make all items of jewellery.

What kind of materials do you use?

I use silver, semi-precious gems, acrylic and resin.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Floral textile prints, particularily vintage, Japanese and Asian.

What is your design process?

Collecting images, photography and fabrics and designing patterns either by hand or on computer.

What have been some of your favourite jewellery pieces you’ve created and why?

I have enjoyed working with galleries who have customers who like to create their own combinations of jewellery from my designs.

Could you describe the woman who wears your jewellery? Who is your ideal customer?

My ideal customer is anyone who likes my work and enjoys wearing jewellery whatever the occasion! The woman who wears my jewellery would most likely be someone who likes feminine pieces without being too precious and with a modern edge.

Is there one piece in your collection that you think every woman should have?

Every woman should have something with a pearl!

What are you working on now? Do you have any new projects?

I’m working on developing new designs and hopefully a new collection to be launched next spring.

How do you think contemporary jewellery is going to develop?

I think contemporary jewellery will develop into something which is enjoyed by most people. As people become more expressive with clothing and fashion then accessories such as contemporary jewellery will be worn more. I think we will be seeing bigger, bolder and a wider use of materials.

We are also very pleased to be showcasing in the downstairs gallery, the Alchemy series of original paintings by local artist Katrina Solano.  Stephen Gribbles vibrant funky images of the city are still on show in the upstairs gallery

Anna Calvert

Anna’s current collection has drawn inspiration the symbiosis of old and new – how new moss can grow on an old tree for example. Each idea is developed from a sketch or photograph into a model before it is made in silver using traditional silversmithing skills. Anna uses soft leather, manipulating it to capture the organic forms, which she then encases in the silver.

Christine Kaltoft

Christine designs and makes graphic contemporary jewellery.  She mostly works in fine gold and silver wires, sometimes including elements of wood.  Christine’s inspiration comes from the movements and sounds she comes across.  she captures these moments with a quick sketch and later creates jewellery that conveys the energy of the experience, resulting in jewellery that bursts or flows, simple and elegant, or complex and layered.

Debbie Noble

Debbie’s work deals with the elements of life and the memories that these hold.  Influenced by places, events, people and the sentimentality these evoke to produce jewellery pieces that are cathartic, celebratory and sombre.  Debbie creates small-scale sculptural pieces, using a combination of processes alongside jewellery making techniques.

Emma Macleod

Mainly inspired by Dundee’s bustling dockyards, Emma has documented the activity of the yards throughout the year with photography and transferred this to her jewellery.  Focusing mainly in the structure of the large rig legs and scaling them down to fit the body.  Emma works in silver using oxidisation for contrast.

Fiona Hermse

Artistic photography forms a large part of Fiona’s work in developing the thematics of her collections.  Fiona is constantly inspired by our interaction with the natural world and is particularly inspired by superstition and myth in nature.  This collection focuses on ancient beliefs that a moth and butterfly embody a human soul, a concept she finds particularly poignant and beautiful,  She focuses on the wing shapes of individual species of moth, butterflies and other insects to create the pieces.

Gill Galloway-Whitehead

Gill has developed a method of working with fine wire, which allows her to express herself much in the same way as she would when painting. Different densities of wire can be manipulated to create surface changes in tone and texture.  Using the whiteness of fine silver in combination with the rich yellow gold of fine gold as well as the black through to grey of oxidation gives a satisfying palette.  The wire strand in isolation is fragile but when manipulated into mesh gains strength.  The contrast between the look of fragility and actual resilience plays with the perception when embodied in one piece of work.

Karen Dell’Armi

Karen’s new hope collection was inspired by her recent charity climb to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro – the mosses and lichens on the ancient trees near the Machame Gate – and the giant lobelia and senecio at altitude in an otherwise very baron volcanic landscape.  The hope collection features electrolytically etched hand-formed silver links and unusual rough cut, unpolished precious and semi-precious stones I vibrant colours – such as agate slices, carnelian, lapis lazuli and chrysoprase.

Nobuko Okumura

This collection is called “Threads Collection”.  Nobuko developed her designs from drawings to 3D textile work and then it has moved into metal.  Rapid Prototyping has become one of the fastest growing artisan techniques in fine jewellery and silversmithing today.  She has worked extensively with threads and silks in her jewellery before giving the threads a resin based armature.  This process was very successful in the short term however to provide the pieces with a permanent structure and wearable durability she developed a rapid prototype range in pure silver with forms taken directly from her thread pieces.

Sharleen Marius

Sharleen makes simple and organic jewellery forms with rich surface texture, inspired by the effects of time, age and corrosion. Through the use of unorthodox metals and techniques, she challenges the traditional preconceptions of what jewellery should be.          She primarily works with non-precious metals such as steel yet enjoys the contrast that can be created by combining these with more traditional materials such as silver. The colour and surface texture found on each of her products is never the same and as an alternative to soldering, all of my products are created using cold-joining techniques such as riveting.

Zsuzsi Morrison

Zsuzsi’s pieces develop in an organic way allowing designs to evolve with colours, shapes and patterns altering as new designs emerge.

Fine silver and 22ct gold are worked freestyle, the designs made entirely by hand and then enamelled.Enamel is laid on in a painterly fashion. Tiny washed and ground granules, suspended in water are applied with a fine paintbrush.  Subtle and vibrant colours are used together.  Opaque and transparent enamels form blocks of colour or, when layered in separate firings, with opals, create a watercolour effect.

Katrina Solano – Artist (Alchemy Series)

Over the past year Katrina has developed an extensive series of paintings called Alchemy. They are a reflection on the inner landscapes of the mind and the outer landscapes of the wider world and contain her ideas of change, inner spirit, memory and the alchemy of all life.    The paintings go through their own alchemical process, built up over many layers with the images developing over time. Leaf metals introduced at an early stage can be obliterated by the acrylic paint only to re-emerge later. The processes they go through give them a rich textural surface and deep intense colour. Katrina works from an attic studio in Plymouth where the windows overlook most of the city and out across to the sea, breakwater and beyond. The view is an inspiration in itself and at twilight it is especially beautiful with the city’s lights twinkling against an indigo sky.

Click to view slideshow.

What first inspired you to become a jewellery designer? How did you learn how to do what you do?

Starting in 1992, I studied at Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art in Dundee. I  only ever wanted to  go to Art School, it was really the only path I had ever considered. I was set on being an Illustrator, but when the time came, it was not what I expected and my lecturers noticed a significant, linear 3d style to my work. So, from  there, I realised I wanted to “make” something and jewellery and silversmithing was the natural choice.

What items do you mainly make?

I started off as a small-scale silversmith, making small items like spoons, salt and pepper pots and tea strainers. Having no jewellery items in my final year show, now I hardly step away from jewellery.

What kind of materials do you use?

I jump around quite a lot, due to experimenting with many processes at art school. My work started as very simplistic inlayed jewellery, based  on my travels and a fascination with the work of the INCA’s . I then moved on to using script from my travel diaries to create photoetched text from my diary range, on sheet metal. I now have started using enamels again, mainly as a flash of colour on a flower collection which started off as a one-off range many years ago. As this range became more popular, it has continued to this day, evolving from simple silver, to silver and kiln enamels. I have also made many of the items in gold or with diamond detailing.

Where does your inspiration come from?

As mentioned before, it’s mostly from my travels. Although I have been looking back and researching a new collection based more on hand written text and lettering.

What is your design process?

I am pretty intuitive and I  work between sketches, making small moodboards and simply “playing” in the workshop. Really it’s a mélange of all 3. I used to spend more time on my sketchbooks, and it’s something, I’d love to have the luxury of doing more of!

What have been some of your favourite jewellery pieces you’ve created and why?

I like different things for different reasons. Some are one off pieces that were a challenge and simply worked out technically. Other times I  love a small batch production. It’s a sense of completion. The main thing is if a customer openly loves and piece and I then know I have understood what the customer wanted.

Could you describe the woman who wears your jewellery? Who is your ideal customer?

I think I’m moving more towards one-off items with a personal note to it. Especially since I’ve been doing pieces with writing. This always makes things personal! It’s interesting seeing what private notes people like to have on jewellery. It’s almost like a tattoo sometimes!  My jewellery is for everyone, all ages, all styles yet I’d say it’s normally it’s more of a keepsake or something you would wear every day rather than a full-on fashion piece.

Is there one piece in your collection that you think every woman should have?

One of my spinning rings. It may be a slim silver one or a big chunky one with lots of diamonds! I  think men should have them too!

What are you working on now? Do you have any new projects?

Back to my roots with text and handwriting. I’m also looking into sourcing my materials ethically. Something close to my heart and a must for the future of the jewellery trade.

How do you think contemporary jewellery is going to develop?

I’m a bit old school now! I like traditional techniques. As I mentioned in the last question. I would like to see it become more ethical.

Each of the 100 exhibitors is represented by two items – one student piece and one more contemporary.

The exhibition is a brilliant confirmation of how the institution has helped encourage links between creativity and entrepreneurship over the last 40 years; showing the School’s significant influence not only on the business of craft and product in the West Midlands but also throughout the world.

Open to the public: 24 October 2011 – 25 November 2011

Weekdays only; 10.00 – 4.00

Free admission/ Catalogue  available         www.allgolds.co.uk

School of Jewellery, Birmingham City University, Vittoria Street

Birmingham B1 3PA

What first inspired you to become a jewellery designer? How did you learn how to do what you do?

I’ve always been a designer.  Originally I trained in textiles, but over the years I have also worked as a graphic designer, a social documentary photographer and a book binder!!  When my children left home I decided to take time out and returned to college to study design crafts.  It took me a while to realize that I wanted to make jewellery, but once I’d made my first few pieces I was ‘hooked’!!  Now I can’t imagine making anything else.

What items do you mainly make?

All of my collections feature pendants, earrings and studs as well as a ‘statement’ piece – usually a necklace.  Some of my earlier ranges also include rings and brooches.

What kind of materials do you use?

I mostly work with silver, adding various carats of gold for colour and detail.  Some of my work is gilded with 22ct gold. Other pieces use an ancient Korean technique called Keum Boo, which sees pure gold foil burnished onto the silver to produce a permanent bond.  I frequently oxidise silver to either produce an aged effect or to dramatically contrast it against gold.

Where does your inspiration come from?

My work has always been influenced by ‘found objects’. Although I live in ‘landlocked Herefordshire’ I’m a beachcombing ‘addict’. Both of my current collections reflect this in differing ways. The Timeworn ranges are centred around the ways in which surfaces change, often dramatically, when subjected to the elements, whilst the Shoreline collection focuses on the more subtle textures and shapes of beachcombing finds.

What is your design process?

I have a set of shelves in my studio filled with found objects which form the inspiration for new work.  The actual design process tends to start with experimenting with surface textures.  Once I’m happy with the surface patterning  I’ll begin to draw out ideas although the final design tends to come together during the actual making process.

What have been some of your favourite jewellery pieces you’ve created and why?

My all time favorite has to be the multilink necklace and bracelet from the ‘Corrosion’ range.  The design originated from some rusting discs of metal I picked up off a beach some years ago.  The finished designs are not only striking pieces visually, but also have an amazing tactile quality.

Could you describe the woman who wears your jewellery? Who is your ideal customer?

I am always surprised by the age range and type of woman my work seems to appeal to.  I am equally as likely to sell work as a 21st birthday present as to someone buying a retirement gift. My ideal customers have to be those who buy a piece, love it and return to buy more.

Is there one piece in your collection that you think every woman should have?

This changes with every new collection, but at the moment I would say any one of the pieces from the ‘Sea Washed’ range.  They’re simple and can be worn for just about any occasion.

What are you working on now? Do you have any new projects?

I tend to design new ranges during the quieter months of the year.  January through to March usually sees me working on new ideas and experimenting with new textures.  I try to add new pieces to existing ranges throughout the year so that I can ‘freshen up’ gallery displays. I have been designing around the Shoreline theme for a few years now so ideally I’d like to move my work in a new direction in the very near future.  Although I’m not 100% sure what this direction will be there seems to be a new collection of found objects taking shape on my workshop shelves.

How do you think contemporary jewellery is going to develop?

With the ever increasing price of precious metals I think an obvious development will be an increasing use of alternative materials.  This  already becoming evident with more makers using  textile materials, plastics, wood and paper to produce innovative work.

Reuse to not forget. Re-invent to dream again. This is the core concept behind Memory’s products. Created by a group of young Italian designers, the new brand unites high fashion, the spirit of travel, and sustainability. The exclusive Army – Navy collection will be unveiled 10-18 September, in Plymouth, UK coinciding with the 2011 America’s Cup.

During the event, several headline bags from this military-inspired collection will be on display at Victoria Sewart Contemporary Jewellery Gallery in the heart of Plymouth’s historic Barbican district. Each bag is made from fabric reclaimed from actual military equipment, fashionably designed under the motto, “Make Love Not War”.

Memory’s products are made in Italy with 100% recycled materials; each article retains the allure of the old, combined with an innovative, trendy edge. Memory’s caters to an elegant, fashion-conscious, cosmopolitan clientele seeking unique accessories to supplement their look and express their individuality, a clientele that finds inspiration in the past, lives in the moment, yet already has one foot in the future.

Follow Memory’s on Facebook

Click to view slideshow.

During the Cup we have events also going on down here on the Barbican from street entertainers, live music and shops staying open until 7pm.

Here are some examples of our nautical jewellery…

Click to view slideshow.

The ‘Dust Collection’ uses acrylic as dust laminated into the plastic and cut into thin slices which resemble agate – the results are stunning jewellery that is both light weight and vivid in colour.

Click to view slideshow.

“My products are colourful, playful and delightfully pretty, inspired by the countryside and gardens around my rural Somerset studio. Lightweight jewellery pieces are made by printing aluminium sheet with an array of patterns. These are handworked and combined with silver fixtures and fittings to create simple, delicate pieces”. (Sally Pawson)

What first inspired you to become a jewellery designer?

I have always had a distinctive personal style and a love of colour. This coupled with the desire to be creative in a functional, purposeful way took me to University College Falmouth in Cornwall. There I learnt about design and creativity on the contemporary crafts degree course and was exposed to a whole world of jewellery that I had not seen before. The world of contemporary jewellery was immediately inspiring and I knew this would provide the outlet for my creativity that I had been searching for.

What items do you mainly make?

I make rings, earrings, necklaces, bangles, cufflinks and have recently begun making brooches.

What kind of materials do you use?

A combination of printed aluminium, sterling silver and miniature screws.

Where does your inspiration come from?

I find inspiration all around me, I try not to draw on any particular source but use materials, colours, patterns and my own feelings and intuition to guide me.

What is your design process?

I tend to deign in a very intuitive, spontaneous way. I will try something and then keep tweaking it until I am happy, sometimes this will take a few hours, sometimes weeks or months. There is always a warm feeling when I know I have hit the nail on the head!!

What have been some of your favourite jewellery pieces you’ve created and why?

I love all the pieces in the collection… that’s why they are in there!

Could you describe the woman who wears your jewellery? Who is your ideal customer?

Anyone and everyone! I don’t have an ideal customer. I believe that good design should be wholly inclusive.

Is there one piece in your collection that you think every woman should have?

No, whatever suits her that’s the piece she should have.

What are you working on now? Do you have any new projects?

I am currently working on a series of brooches.

How do you think contemporary jewellery is going to develop?

As time goes by more and more exciting designs and processes will emerge, therefore the contemporary jewellery scene will always be getting richer.

Here in our gallery we shall be showcasing for the first time in a gallery, the stunning new glass jewellery of award winning new designer Sara Fell, who won best new glass graduate 2011.

photo: Simon Bruntnell

The ‘Precious integrations’ series is a celebration of the ‘high altar’ of femininity and of the ritual beautification that forms the essence of the dressing table.  This series is a continuation of Sara’s intrigue into the hidden and precious elements of jewellery, “why do we hide away what we perceive to be our most treasured possessions”.

Taking inspiration from the glass dressing table sets of the 1920’s, Sara bestows a contemporary take on them by integrating hidden elements of jewellery such as rings, necklaces and bangles, within each of her sets.