My Story

I grew up surrounded by jewellery. In the school holidays I would go to a dingy warehouse in Kentish Town: I remember the smell of dusty boxes and the aisles upon aisles of jewellery treasures. I would spend my time rummaging through troves of broken jewellery and stringing beads into long necklaces. There were so many beads! Plastic, shell, ceramic, Czech glass, semi-precious, marquise, Swarovski, pearl, wood… alongside meters of chain and shelves of stampings. I was blessed to have a world of materials at my fingertips.

The family business was started by my grandfather. Born in Alsace-Lorraine, French, German and Jewish, he survived the War by escaping from a work camp. In 1950 he started selling buttons from a cart on the streets of London, and ended up building one of the first and largest fashion jewellery houses in the UK.

By the time I joined the family business the market had changed; globalization and the rise of powerful corporations were forcing us to rethink our place. We became the middleman, using our expertise and knowledge to design and make the products sold by larger companies. I was part of a team of designers churning out fast fashion jewellery.

After several years, disillusioned by the process, I decided to return to art school and in 2008 I started my MA in jewellery design at Central Saint Martins. Here I could push the boundaries, explore ideas and experiment with materials. 

At my degree show I was selected to take part in an exhibitionat Sotheby’s called “Small show, Huge talent”. I now had the confidence to pursue my dream of making jewellery as I felt it should be: a sacred object, meaningful, steeped in symbolism, tradition, history and cultural heritage.

The essence of my work is to reinstate the sacred link between the object and the individual who wears it. And I hope that my jewellery will bring pleasure and perhaps even an unexpected moment of encounter to those who view it also.

The work explores the idea of creating a connection between the wearer and the object through its visceral, sensual qualities. The representation of the flesh into precious material creates a synergy between the body and the jewellery itself. When you look at this jewellery I want you to be drawn into it, creating an intimate relationship between you and the piece.