Ooer, it’s been a while hasn’t it? Sorry, all my good intentions to keep this blog up to date somehow went to pot!
It's been a busy 12 months.
No really, it has.
If you’ve visited my website recently, you will hopefully have spotted a new collection of handmade jewellery. I’ve been madly beavering away with a needle and thread and putting together my own collection of beaded jewellery. And, aside from accidentally stabbing myself at least once a day with a surprisingly sharp needle, it's been the most fun I've had in years! Oh what a simple life she must lead, I hear you say. Well maybe, maybe not, but what I mean is that I've found something that I utterly love doing. I've been a maker of clothes and accessories since I was a teen but, once I grew up and entered the rat race, life got in the way as it does and I just never seemed to have the time to indulge my creative side.....until now. It wasn't an easy thing to do though. I was so scared that people wouldn't like what I made, my head with riddled with thoughts like "what if people don't like it?", or "what if they think my designs are fuddy-duddy?" - that second one kept beating me around the head with a rolling pin and scaring me the most as I move ever closer to the edge of the ledge of my 40s and peek over with one eye closed to the unknown 50s. But then I thought "hang on a sec, look at Vivienne Westwood and Karl Lagerfeld?". They're positively ancient (I mean that in the nicest way), and they're totally killing it (past tense in the case of the inimitable Karl Lagerfeld).
So I went for it.
About the collection
I wanted to create a collection that blended with my love of beach life with the reality of my city life, and there’s also more than a bit of influence from my Indian heritage. It’s quite minimalist in style, with lots of use of block colours and geometric shapes, but the result is quite eye-catching. The collection incorporates semi-precious stones, seed beads (made of glass) and mixed metals, including sterling silver and gold fill (if you’re new to gold filled metal, head to the info section on my website for more detail).
Handmade seed bead and 14k gold filled hoops
Semi-precious beads
We’re all familiar with birthstones and their mystical metaphysical powers, and whether you’re a believer or not, it’s rather fascinating stuff once you start looking into it. A quick Google will tell you the attributes believed to be held by any particular stone but, what really surprised me when I started working with gemstone beads is how beautiful they are. Call me unsophisticated but, when it came to thinking about stones, the only image that made me involuntarily drool was a glitterball sparkling white diamond the size of a walnut. Well not any more! Oh okay, a Kardashian'esque diamond ring would still make me dribble, but my eyes have definitely been opened. There are so many more options than the expensively cut and polished stones you regularly see in fine jewellery, and the colours and sparkle of gemstone beads really are stunning. With this in mind, I try to make the natural beauty of the beads the centre of attraction in every piece of jewellery that I make - the beads don't need much of a helping hand to be honest.
Handcrafted 14k gold filled hoops with seeds beads and natural garnet beads
So, if you have a moment, do take a look at the new collection, and I hope you like it.