A lot of people ask me where I find my inspiration and how I interpret it into the individually designed pieces of jewellery that I produce. Coastal walks along the Jurassic Coast here in the South West of England, country rambles around my rural home as well as developments from doodles, sketches and paintings all play their part.

Take this Limpet Brooch, for example

Walks on Budleigh Salterton beach provide a ever changing display of flotsam and shells. Limpet shells, often with the tops sliced off, are a frequent find and provided the inspiration for this brooch a few years ago which, in turn, led to a new series of work. Hand texturing is a must for me and beach shells provided so much to work with.

nothing glistens like gold

One of the intermittent purges of my workshop had unearthed a rather battered brown envelope with my grandfather’s name and address written with a fountain pen in copperplate handwriting. I realised it had lurked in a draw since clearing out my father’s flat over a decade ago, a memento of his own father. Inside were a few sheets of pure gold leaf, all that remains of grandfather’s hobby of restoring grandmother clocks (think grandfather clock but without the imposing wooden case), a very nostalgic remnant from the 1960’s. There was just enough to add the perfect accent to my new brooch, picking up the textures on the brooch back surface.

While the original was sold to a lovely client at Handmade in Cardiff a few years ago, I periodically recreate this design, complete with the gold leaf and freshwater pearl centre though sadly Grandad’s gold ran out a while back. It’s still one of my favourite designs, probably because of the link to two rather special people.

.