A Work of Art

Close-up of an artist's hand coloring a detailed gold necklace with a large faceted gemstone in the center using colored pencils.

What do you enjoy most about being a jewellery designer?

Close-up of a gold necklace with a circular, geometric pendant, surrounded by photographs and sketches of the jewelry design.

I love the entire design process. Taking that blank page and putting pencil to paper while I interpret the story and the personality of my client into a physical drawing is exciting. The anticipation only grows when I take the final design from my group of sketches and technical drawings to the final coloured rendering. I love the sound of the pencil as I gently mark the paper, and then begin to blend in secondary colours. I always save the diamond for last, because it brings me so much joy to complete the artwork with nature’s most brilliant rock. This to me, is my artistic signature.

Sketch of a jewelry pendant with yellow gold, a center stone, and a gold wire mesh. Includes various views and details, with handwritten notes about design elements and measurements.

Close-up of a person working on jewelry, using a pin to set or adjust a detailed ornamental piece with their hands.

How do you balance creativity with practicality in your designs?

There are specific measurements and guidelines that I adhere to when creating each jewellery piece. This ensures that my jewellery designs will hold up over time while maintaining a visually pleasing work of art. With my experience as a bench jeweller, having the knowledge and understanding of how the piece is constructed helps to inform my design, blending both artistry and practicality together.

How do you approach designing custom pieces for clients with specific preferences or requests?

Everything begins at that first initial meeting when I hear my client’s story. I also gather a sense of their style, and who they are as a person. l collect keywords as they speak and I begin by sketching out visual symbols to match. This allows me to design an aesthetic that blends it all together, to create something powerful and unique specific to them. When creating a collection, I find inspiration all around me in my community, from historic stone buildings to natural garden-filled spaces. The visuals, the soundscape and even the smells create a synesthesia within me that I then translate into a visual and wearable collection.

A smiling young woman with pastel purple hair sitting at a desk, holding a tool, surrounded by a lighted keyboard, pen, and a binder with sketches.

I work with a variety of metals and gemstones and appreciate the colours found within. Currently, my favourite metal material to work with is yellow gold .Its natural properties allow for malleability and ductility which makes it easy to manipulate into complex and classic designs. My favourite gemstone material to work with is the natural diamond. No two diamonds are exactly the same. making each piece as individual as the wearer.
“Deconstructed, geometric pattern inside of an ocean wave” were the words used by my client to create one of my most complex designs. To face this challenge, I looked at my client’s wedding venue, a gothic castle in Germany. I found a geometric pattern which I deconstructed and incorporated it into the ocean-inspired curved band. Aquamarine, diamonds and peridot created the water effect symbolizing the feel of the ocean. My client was very happy with my interpretation of her words. The manufacturing challenge included multiple castings in order to get the palladium to flow.
You can check out the gallery images below for the design art works of each piece, and the final creation are in the custom work gallery on this website. You can also check out my newsletter “Studio Scoop” every month, as well as my Instagram and Facebook pages.