We were incredibly pleased to be a part of the launch of Fetcham Park, one of two Stately homes now being shared with all for wedding days and special events by my friend Laura and her family. The interior is absolutely amazing, featuring murals by Louis Laguerre (the same artist whose work can be seen at Blenheim and Chatsworth).

All photographs courtesy of the talented EFC photography.

Laura had mentioned the launch to me some time back, and over the months it just grew and grew into a spectacular wedding industry event. Guests included the Editor and team at You and Your Wedding, Annabel Beeforth from wedding blog Love My Dress and Emma Woodhouse, The Wedding Reporter.  We showed off a selection of our work, including some new Fairtrade pieces that were hot off the work bench. We also put jewellery on the front of house models, which was a lot of fun, matching pieces to the styles that had been chosen by old school friend Emma Meek of famous Surrey wedding dress institution  Miss Bush- Bridal Wear.

Jewellery comes to life when it is worn, in fact some pieces can look a little underwhelming until someone offers them a backdrop on which they can shine. So getting the opportunity to play with styles and looks made for an enjoyable afternoon, even if it all got a little stressful when the models did a half way change of outfits. It was along way away from cups of tea and the Archers in the comfort of an autumn workshop…

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Introducing the work of Kerry Howley, a jewellery student from Cambridge, whose collection offers an unusual take on organic jewellery. She created the necklaces using hair from the head of her mother’s friend, and takes her inspiration for the flowing designs from the intricacies and details of wallpaper .

She created each piece by weaving the hair using broken saw blades. I wish I had thought of such a novel way of using the broken blades when I was learning my craft. The designs have already attracted the attention of the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, who awarded Kerry its Arthur Silver Award for 2011.

Kerry designed the jewellery to demonstrate that people can feel opposing emotions about the same material, depending on where they see it. She said: “The necklaces are made of human hair, a material we are familiar with and take pride in. However, once off of the body it becomes an innate source of aversion. I wanted to see if I could make discarded hair attractive again. I hoped to create a delicate balance between feelings of aversion and attraction.”

I think she’s definitely achieved her goal. I find the necklaces both intriguing and beautiful to look at, but when my mind strays to the material, I  feel that slight feeling of aversion that she is looking for, deep down in the pit of my stomach! Very interesting.

Her designs were on show alongside work from other Middlesex University jewellery students at the New Designers graduate show at the Business Design Centre in London: a show that I have visited before and where I have always been amazed by the intense creativity of our graduate designers. Fantastic: Long Live British Design!

See more of Kerry’s work at   www.kerryhowley.co.uk

Well sorry Folks, It’s been a very busy few weeks since getting back from the Treasure exhibition, which was part of London jewellery week.  I came back to a lot of designing work for various new pieces and commissions and needed to spend some time with the family, who had begun to notice my absence!  Still I am more on top of things now, so have a bit of time to chat.

The first thing I want to share is the stand we made for the Treasure exhibition. During the few weeks beforehand, me and Rachel had talked through some ideas, but still hadn’t come up with a definite concept, well at least not one that was practical and acheivable!

It was literally the last weekend when things started to take shape. I remember walking into the workshop, thinking that i needed a break from ‘stand anxiety’ only to re appear a bit later to find that Rachel had taken out every draw from every piece of furniture in the shop. She was stacking them and creating a look that  intrigued me instantly. The rest was just playing, and adding the fabric to the bases of the draws. The fabric came from ‘offf cuts’, left from having all the chairs reupholstered . It was quite a  moment seeing someone you employ stepping up and making a huge difference. It was such a creative idea, and completely conceptualised from things that were already around us, so environmentally sound and quite Buddhist too.  She’s not just a pretty gemmologist you know!

Due to our involvement launching Fairtrade and Fairmined gold, we exhibited within Essence, an inspiring ethical pavillion. It had been styled by Interior students from the London Metropolitan University, who graciously allowed us to personalise their creations. Above shows another great idea from Rachel!