Hand painted, Acrylic, Green and blue, Tiffany set dangle earrings.

I have had a somewhat unusual route into silversmithing and jewellery making!
I did my first degree in Psychology at Birmingham University and then went on to do an MSc at Leeds. I worked for about 12 years in the NHS, primarily with people with drug and alcohol problems. At that time I had just started doing some work with beading, inspired by Janet Coles lovely designs.
When I had my children I did freelance training/research for a while then started a PhD in Art and Music Therapy with learning disabled people. At the same time I was learning to trade stocks and futures and all my creative energies were used up. After the PhD and when my stock trading had settled down into being just a routine, I began to long to do something creative once more and enrolled in a silversmithing course with a wonderful Jeweller and Silversmith called Deirdre Wolgar.

My design philosophy is, that as with cooking, you should use the best ingredients and let them speak for themselves. Touching jewellery and putting it on should be a sensuous experience as well as a visual one. I like simplicity in design and jewellery that is practical to wear, there are few things more irritating than getting necklaces, earrings and bracelets caught up in your jumper or hair.