On Friday 18th May 4 – 7pm & Saturday 19th May 10am – 4pm, I will be taking part in the Centrepiece Open Studios event with other Midlands based jewellery designer/makers.  During the 2 days independent designer/makers open their workshops and studios to the public.  You can see how we work and look at the amazing jewellery that is created in Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter.  To view the flyer and find out which designers are showing where, click on the link below:

CP Open Studios May 2012

I will be at 81 Vyse St,  B18 6HA.

Recently this week I attended a photography workshop with a professional fashion photographer to take images of my more statement pieces within the Blue Lotus collection.  I wanted the image to illustrate how the piece looks when work.  The final image taken and edited by myself is shown below.  The image is of my brooch.

After attending the Paraa Fashion show and being overwhelmed with the Benarasi prints, I decided to base my new collection on the decorative designs seen in sarees.  My new work is inspired by zari embroidery, specifically seen in  Kanchipuram silk sarees.  Kanchipuram sarees are made in India and the weavers use a type of thread made of fine gold or silver wire to create the intricate patterns.  The collection is still at the design stage and will be available later this year.

Zari pattern (CAD image)

On November 15th I worked alongside the Design & Technology department at West Hatch High School and a select group of Year 9 students to do a metal workshop based on the London Olympics.  The students were given two medal designs based on the Olympic logo and their school logo, and created medals using copper and enamel.

Finally my three new ranges; Star, Diamond and Laksmi, all part of the Star Lotus collection is now complete.  The pieces are made using sterling silver and some contain semi-precious stones and can be seen at the Centrepiece Jewellery exhibition.