Gabi Nistor

Brooch with reticulated sterling silver, keum boo 24k gold foil, Brazilian blue Topaz and stainless steel wire

Ring with reticulated sterling silver, keum boo 24k gold foil and Brazilian blue Topaz

What inspired the collection?

The main inspiration for the whole collection was modern minimalistic architecture (clean lines and spaced layers; exploring basic shapes compositions, with smooth edges and rounded corners).

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

I am mostly self-taught and have been making jewellery since 2016. My pieces are limited series and one of a kind, I often work on custom requests.
The main material in my pieces has been silver, but I loved experimenting with wood and gold accents. Over the time I grew really fond of gemstones,
so they gradually appeared more and more often in my work. I enjoy both working directly in metal, as well as working with wax.
I had never tried engraving or keum boo before the Fine Jewellery Diploma course, it's been such an adventure!

Webshop : https://www.etsy.com/shop/5ignadesigns
Instagram: @5ignadesigns
Facebook: 5igna.designs

Alexandra Cardinal von widdern

Connecting, molten, textured 18k yellow gold rings with fan and pentagon shaped rose cut salt and pepper diamonds.

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

I have always been a maker and being a goldsmith was my childhood dream. I started silversmithing at JASSO (Oxford) and soon began to work in gold and salt and pepper diamonds. During lockdown, I did many online courses in a range of techniques before signing up to the Fine Diploma with Jewellers' Academy. I am currently completing the advanced diploma with JA.

Instagram: @vonwjewellery
Website: vonwjewellery.com

katherine elder

Hippocampi Collection

1. Ring – Hand painted and carved ebony set in gold plated silver with fish tail shank, accented with black and pink freshwater pearl and hidden ‘North Star’ white CZ underneath.

2. Earrings – Hand painted and carved ebony set in gold plated silver with claw set garnets and black freshwater pearl accents.

3. Pendant – Hand painted and carved ebony set in gold plated silver with claw set pink morganite and pink freshwater pearl accents.

What inspired the collection?

As a painter myself I wished to create a collection marrying together my passions of painting and jewellery, celebrating the Renaissance era which brought such beauty and magic into our world, but with a new contemporary feel.

Mythological themes of fantastical creatures, gods and goddesses feature heavily in Renaissance culture and have always been able to capture my imagination. My eye was caught by the mythical sea horses, or Hippocampi who drew Poseidon’s chariot, making it the central focus of this collection. Renaissance jewellery created desire and speculation, secrets and hidden meanings were concealed in the designs. An extra dimension of meaning within a piece of jewellery is still popular and valued in today’s fashions and this collection was designed to do just that. The wearer, making a bold statement, feels empowered by its confidence and intrigue.

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

Before the Fine Jewellery Diploma I did the 1st year of the Silver Diploma 2020 with Jewellers Academy and that was the first time that I had ever made jewellery.

Website: www.katherineelder.com
Instagram: @katherineelderjewellery

jodie Mannion

A delicate silver necklace linking framed components with keum boo details, and a claw set rutilated quartz in the centre

A silver ring with keum boo detailing surrounding a citrine stone

A pair of silver drop earrings framing keum boo detail with pear shaped citrine stones

What inspired the collection?

My pieces were inspired by the power of the sun. The sharp sunrays, the warmth of its glow, the power it brings to us and to earth. I wanted the pieces to feel powerful too.

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

I’ve always made jewellery since my early 20’s but was I have worked as a jeweller for many years after completing a degree in jewellery and silversmithing. I now teach classes as well. I feel over time you can get stale and not take things further or push yourself. This was a wonderful chance to go back to a learning environment and develop new designs and  new skills too. 

Instagram: @loandmejewellery

Helen Wallace

9ct gold articulated bangle with orange and yellow sapphires, tanzanite and diamond.

9ct gold stud earrings with orange sapphire and diamond.

What inspired the collection?

My inspiration came from my enjoyment of looking at the seasonal changes of the Mimosa tree and trying to capture the jointed branches, frondike leaves, buds and flowers into the pieces. As my silversmith skills grew on the course I was able to incorporate twisted gold, riveting and stone setting techniques into the design.

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

My previous experience is some  silversmithing skills gained from evening classes in the 90's and a few independant day courses  in silver clay.

Instagram: @hw.jewellery
Website: helenwallacejewellery.com

zoe emmett

Handmade Celtic Torq, Celtic arm torq/arm bracelet and fibula twist brooch in recycled silver using only ancient techniques. 

What inspired the collection?

All pieces were inspired by pre- Roman Celtic jewellery that I had studied during my teaching career. I wanted to recreate these key pieces of jewellery entirely by hand using ancient techniques. Each piece has been crafted from recycled silver. Even the wires were hammered into shape by hand from recycled ingots. 

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

Before the diploma I had been making jewellery for over 15 years and silversmithing for about 10 but largely self-taught. I had a small business specialising in recycled unworn pieces of jewellery into new ones. 

Facebook: La Vie ZoEM

Instagram: @laviezoemjewellery

Sally Costen

A Silver ring with an Atlas like figure supporting a citrine with Rose gold claws.

A Silver bracelet with unique figures, made to link, curved to fit the wrist, some figures are articulated with rivets to allow movement between links.

A necklace with 4 figures; 3 hang from a beautiful, uniquely carved citrine. The bottom figure is riveted to the above figure to move freely and the 4th figure makes the toggle clasp.

What inspired the collection?

The collection is called ‘The Union’ and is inspired by the need for others for everything we do, in work and in life.

Be it the network of miners, refiners, stone cutters, couriers, suppliers that sit behind every piece of jewellery we produce. Or the patience & kindness of family & friends who support you. And the people who take time to encourage, advise and teach and those who wear our creations.

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

I had some making experience, partly trial and error but mainly through taking courses throughout my jewellery making journey, these were with Jewellers Academy. I’m constantly looking to improve my skills and realising some of my more ambitious designs!

Website: https://www.theclerkenwelljeweller.com
Instagram: @theclerkenwelljeweller

rebecca boatfield

Ring: Recycled sterling silver geometric cocktail ring with hand engraved lines and an offset green tourmaline baguette and green permanent ink.

Necklace: Geometric necklace made from recycled sterling silver with hand engraved lines and various colours of permanent ink applied. 

Earrings: Large round hinged geometric earrings with hand engraved lines and permanent inks applied. 

What inspired the collection?

My collection is inspired by the geometric forms found in brutalist architecture, in particular I was drawn to one building – the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban (National Parliament House, Bangladesh) by architect Louis Kahn.

The circular design on the building became the main motif for my collection and I wanted to explore different ways I could use this across my collection. 

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

I have a level 2 Jewellery Manufacturing diploma plus I have taken several design courses over the last 10 years. I  also have experience working in the industry in various roles. However I have not been able to spend time developing my skills and challenge myself until this course came along.  

Website: hiddn.studio

Instagram: @hiddn.studio   

Phillipa Reddell

More info coming soon!

Maggie Birchall

More info coming soon!

Mia MacDonald

More info coming soon!

Kirsty Ferguson

What inspired the collection?
The Salt Path collection is comprised of 3 pieces of narrative jewellery, the ‘Lighthouse’, the ‘Coble’ and the ‘Swallow’ cuff.  After reading the book the Salt path by Raynor Winn I was inspired by symbols for hope and homecoming, motifs from the coastal linocut prints of Angela Harding and Brighton artist Sarah Young as well as old sailors tattoos. I grew up on he rugged North Yorkshire coast, although I’ve moved around a lot and no longer live there, it is the place I think of most as home, I wanted the themes and the themes and materials used to evoking that. The lighthouse is a double sided spinner pendant, it has been carved from Stirling silver with 24ct gold keum boo applied to the light rays. I used Whitby Jet which I collected from a local beach in North Yorkshire. Jet is a rare black gemstone formed in the Jurassic period 180 million years ago from fossilised Araucaria trees and has been worked for 5000 years, it can only be found in 7 miles of beaches around the Whitby area. The piece of jet in the pendant has been lightly polished to reveal its natural texture and origins in the imprinted bark which has then been tumbled and smoothed by the sea, the gem has been embellished with embedded black diamonds. The swallow cuff is handmade from Stirling silver formed into swirls to give the stylized impression of wind, clouds and sky, as well as being wave-like. The swallows have been hand carved, oxidised and parti sapphires give a subtle blue sparkle. The ‘Coble’ pendant depicts a traditional Yorkshire coast fishing boat, my dad was a boat builder so this piece was inspired by his trade, the design of the coble is thought to have evolved from Viking longboats. The pendant is kinetic, with the boat appearing to rock back and forth on rolling waves. The boat, waves and anchor are hand carved from Stirling silver, with a little 9ct gold star and two tube set parti sapphires.

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

Before starting the diploma I had been making jewellery for about 2 years, I took some classes at a local adult ed centre, as well as experimenting myself and through online tutorials (JA, youtube etc)

Instagram: @time_and_tide_jewellery

Karen Johnstone

More info coming soon!

Melissa Frost

More info coming soon!

Rachael Kerr

More info coming soon!

Regina Derby

More info coming soon!

nicola Harvey

Art deco inspired tourmaline earrings and matching ring, set in sterling silver, with 9ct gold and sliver plaited wire and keum boo.

What inspired the collection?

My design originated with the beautiful set of tourmalines I had, which I have been dying to use.  I fell in love with the colour, partly as where I live is very forested and with many little streams so we have lots of moss and lichen covered tress and branches so I am definitely drawn towards those kinds of colours ad stones. I like art deco design and think this is reflected a little in the pieces too. One of the other things I really wanted to do was include some elements of gold, I love mixed metals and I always think green and gold works well together. I also wanted to try and mirror the rectangular shape of the tourmalines in the design.

Although we hadn’t specifically dealt with baguette settings in the Diploma course I used a similar technique to that we learned in the marquise ring setting project. I enjoyed making hinges and thought that would give a nice element of movement, and I have seen lots of interesting ideas for hinged projects on Pinterest and the like.

The final key element of the design was the plaited wire element – I did many prototypes using different sized wire and hammering/rolling more or less until I came up with my favourite for these pieces which are 1.2mm wire, two strands of silver and one strand of gold, plaited together and then hammered.

What jewellery making experience did you have before starting the Diploma?

I had completed the Diploma in Silver Jewellery with Jewellers Academy but nothing other than that.

Instagram: @nicolaharvey14