Scottish Thistle & Silver Six Pence Earrings.

I used to love as a child going with my parents to antique fairs, car boot sales and auctions. They are collectors of antiques and curios and they soon got me interested in what to look for in items and what prices I should be paying for them. I studied ‘textile design’ at Heriot Watt and left with an honours degree in ‘Textile design’ specialising in constructed textiles. Whilst many of the students concentrated on working on garments and interior textiles, I decided to concentrate on creating jewellery designs instead. By weaving and knitting gold and silver wires and combining them with crystal and pearl beads, I was able to create unusual and beautiful pieces.

I started out by selling the knitted pieces and found that the vintage brooches I had collected over the years looked good on them. This kind of jewellery seemed popular with brides to be, therefore, I exhibited at wedding shows and fairs at this point. Since then my designs have evolved into creating vintage pieces which are full of charms, keys, cufflinks and anything else I like the look of. This is now the signature ‘look’ of my work. I especially enjoy upcycling vintage jewellery in my work. It is pleasing to see something which no longer has much use or appeal given a new lease of life in one of my designs. Using vintage and old jewellery means you are working with original material and no two pieces are the same. This always makes the outcome of the design that little bit more exiting.