jewellery design inspiration

It’s been a few weeks since I released my newest collection of jewellery, and so I thought it would be a nice idea to let you all know how I decide on my designs and what inspires me to make them in the first place.

When I first started making jewellery, I wanted to be able to make jewellery to wear myself that I couldn’t find in the shops. I’ve loved sterling silver jewellery since I was a teenager, and I would often see a design that I liked in the shops, that wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. Learning how to make sterling silver jewellery was a gamechanger, because I was finally able to make designs that I longed for. That said, there are so many different techniques involved in jewellery making, that just learning how to make jewellery via one technique, doesn’t enable to you make every single possible design; And this is exactly why I decided to complete a Diploma in Silversmithing.

Studying for the Diploma taught me a variety of techniques and opened up a world of possibilities. For a while, I found myself overwhelmed by the options that I had available to me, so landing on a cohesive collection of jewellery felt impossible. I just wanted to make it all!!! I therefore found myself experimenting with certain designs using a variety of techniques and making one-off pieces. I told myself that if the designs didn’t sell, I would wear them myself! Not the best business approach, but it satisfied the jewellery addict in me!

I was relieved to see that most of the one-off designs did sell, especially once I started selling my jewellery at craft fairs, but I did still want to pull together a cohesive collection of jewellery. The way I started approaching this, was to take more notice of what I really loved making, and what my customers loved buying. I also wanted to be mindful of different budgets and the fact that I truly believe that when you invest in jewellery, it should be worn!

Starting with what I love making… I soon realised that I adore using fire to melt precious metals until they turn into a gorgeous gooey liquid. I use this process to make the necklace and bangle from my fused collection, so these two pieces had to make it into my collection.

I also love hammering metals – As you can imagine, it’s very therapeutic! Especially if you’ve had a bad day! I therefore decided that I had to have a “Hammered” collection, which includes rings, earrings and a bangle. My cwpan collection, brings together my love of melting and hammering – The silver has to be brought to melting point to create the texture, and then there is a lot of hammering involved in shaping the metal into the cwpan (cup) shape. Happy days!

Moving onto what my customers seem to love to buy… I started noticing that my customers often bought one ring and then returned a few weeks or months later to buy another. They sometimes buy the same ring and decide to stack them together or buy a slightly different design and stack two different designs together. It’s a great idea if you can’t afford to buy one chunky ring that can be very expensive. When multiple stacking rings are worn next to each other, they can look like one chunky ring. The great thing about this approach is the fact that you can also do this with sterling silver and solid gold, to create a two tone look.

I’ve seen a similar approach with necklaces and the layering trend. I offer various chain lengths and so customers sometimes buy a necklace and then come back a few weeks or months later to buy another one (with a longer or shorter chain) to layer next to another necklace.

Allowing everyone to have access to affordable high quality handmade jewellery is something that I feel strongly about. Along with handmade jewellery being as ethical and environmentally friendly as possible. These are things I’ve factored into my new collection. All of the precious metals that I use are recycled and my packaging is environmentally friendly.

In regards to budget, at the more affordable end of my collection are pebble stud earrings which make great gifts; And in response to a number of requests from people who can only wear solid gold due to allergies, I’ve created a gold collection. A more expensive option, but solid gold lasts a lifetime, versus the alternative, which is gold plated jewellery.

So my fellow jewellery lovers, that’s the background behind my newest collection of jewellery. I hope you’ve found this an interesting read and if you have any questions about anything, feel free to send me a message on here, via email or via Instagram and Facebook.