Some real gems...

As this year's degree shows come to an end, once again we have been bowled over by the variety of creative work and diverse and interesting collections that have caught our eye. We found some great talent, so here are a few of our show highlights from the class of 2012...

First up is a selection of stand-out sparkly bits from New Designer's Part One...

Natasha Thorogood has just graduated from Nottingham Trent University specialising in Decorative Arts. Her collection of organic rings drew us over to her stand like a couple of magpies! They have a painterly quality, almost Monet-esque, and the combination of aquamarine and ochre mixed with metallic accents of copper, silver and gold were perfection...

Beth Jones, a contemporary applied artist based in North Wales showed that jewellery can come from the simplest of forms. Under the name Mine is Thine, her combination of sculptural and wearable pieces explores domestic references, and experimenting with techniques like enamelling, maintains a minimal aesthetic...

Victoria Thay ticks all the boxes for our love of pretty much anything geometric and structured. Throw in a touch of gold and silver and quite frankly we'll want to buy it all! A graduate from Central St.Martins, her surroundings in the capital become the inspirational backdrop, but rather than take literal references, she has explored the architectural landscape and the skewed perspective of buildings you often see when moving around the city...

Amy Logan formed part of the showcase of designers in the 'One Year On' space and in complete contrast to the work by Victoria above, her current collection takes inspiration from the drawn line. The translation from paper and pen to crafted metalwork makes each piece unique with its hand-drawn to hand-made quality...

Nicola Crawford was also showcasing her latest collection as part of 'One Year On' which took inspiration from the nostalgic routes of letter-writing. She came across a letter in an antique shop penned during World War Two, and used this as her basis for her 'Lost Words' collection...

And finally, Mairi Burrow of Mustard & Peaches, produced a stand-out collection as part of the consistent high-quality that comes out of Duncan of Jordanstone at Dundee University. We were already familiar with Mustard & Peaches through our link with Vanilla Ink, and we were excited to not only see Mairi's collection, but to meet the lovely lady herself. Her thoughtful and considered approach to her work was stunning, and tapping into a subject matter such as Alzheimer's was inspiring and heart-felt...

Look out for our round-up of our top finds in textiles, print and ceramics in the next few days...

Transferrable Skills...

Zoe Alexandria Richardson, a London-based jewellery designer approached us as she embarks on her new venture under the name Dual Nation Jewellery.

Having already completed a degree in fashion design and marketing, she needed another creative outlet, and enrolled in a diploma course for creative jewellery making at the London Jewellery School.

When she approached us with her collection, it was something we hadn't really seen before, and were intrigued to find out more, so we set up a meeting last month to meet her, and see her pieces first-hand.

Zoe uses a material called poly-clay, a plastic-based substance to form the decorative parts of her jewellery, and applies transfers she finds interesting to finish the look. Using a simple colour palette of gold, silver and bronze, she creates an interesting mix of uniquely shaped statement pieces with a vintage postcard quality, as well as drawing inspiration from her British and Australian heritage.

With her perfect mix of fashion, design and marketing skills, we see big things for Zoe as she has also talked about extending her ranges with her own illustrations, as well as looking to collaborate with other illustrators too.

We have a small selection of her work available through the Look Like Love store, so head over to take a closer look...

Jewel-like qualities...

We were always a touch sceptical about social media and especially Twitter, a few tentative tweets to begin with and then you gain followers, and the confidence to build a business network.

One of our most recent connections was with Nicky Hadjithoma, the founder of new jewellery emporium Neony. Having a common interest in supporting and promoting up-and-coming jewellery designers, Twitter bashed our business heads together, and she kindly invited us to her new store launch in London last week.

Set a jewel-encrusted stones throw away from Tottenham Court Road, the store was already buzzing with people and flash-bulbs as we approached. It was cosy to say the least, but we were still able to enjoy the stunning mix of perfectly curated collections Nicky had put together.

We managed to catch Nicky in the midst of her mingling, a little overwhelmed by the turn-out and realisation that all her hard work had paid off. She was cautious to use the phrase that she had 'something for everyone' but from the queue forming at the back of the store to pay, we'd say there was definitely more than a few happy customers!

With collections on show from Ruby Feathers, Francesca Villa, Daphne Dasque and Origami Jewellery to name but a few, the wall-mounted gilt frames showcased the work perfectly, with the store itself having an Alice Through the Looking Glass quality...

Of course, we couldn't go away empty handed ourselves, with both of us walking away with our very own pieces of Origami Jewellery, and can't wait to go back to get lost in Wonderland...

More Tea Vicar...

We mentioned a couple of weeks ago a few new additions to our shop were on the way, and our first new arrival is from graduate jewellery designer Roisin Connolly.

We are really excited to be working with Roisin and representing her work, as we've been fans since we posted about her work back in August in, A Personal Journey, where Roisin's technique of acid-etching gold and silver with photographic images, really caught our eye.

We have a couple of her acid-etched creations, as well as her adorable tea-inspired silver earrings. What's more comforting than a good cuppa and a slice of cake, that combination never fails...

...Click on SHOP to see Roisin's pieces, as well as all our other graduate work available to buy...

Reading between the lines...

When it comes to maths, we're not the best, (well, me as the designer half of the duo anyway!) But in a genius cross-over from maths to design, today's featured designer has managed it.

Lizete Druku has recently graduated from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Textiles, and has taken the structural qualities that exist in mathematics to create her own collection of textiles, as well as collaborating with jewellery designer Sarah Cunningham using polyhedra as a starting point.

"This project aims to resurrect the relationship between mathematics and pattern through aesthetic experience and to highlight the ethereal qualities of mathematic principles. By using the imagery from some of the seventy-five uniform polyhedra, forms from numbers and grid structures, the visual narrative creates a metaphor for the changing relationship between fashion and mathematics..." says Lizete about her inspiration.

In truth, the possibilities seem to be endless, and we are lucky enough to have a small collection of limited edition fine wool scarves, and etched jewellery pieces on offer in our shop. These are truly beautiful pieces, and it's proving to be very difficult not to buy them all for ourselves...check them out here before we do!!

Oooh sparkly...

Today we feel like the need for something sparkly, so today's introduction is all about jewellery...

Nicola Reed and Emma MacLeod have very different styles, but we love their individual approach, as well as their passion for design, and both are recent graduates from the hot-bed of talent that is Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design at Dundee University.

Nicola has never wavered in her pursuit to create something unique. As well as experimental collections using vintage finds, freshwater pearls and sterling silver, she also collaborates with textile designer Sarah Nevey on the project entitled Re-Worked, which we featured a few months ago.

The collection we are lucky enough to be featuring on-line is Salvaged Bijoux, again, we gave you a sneak peek last month. She is also one of the designers featuring her work at the up-coming Made '11 in Brighton, with other recent graduates as part of the Vanilla Ink collective...

In stark contract, Emma's inspiration comes from the industrial back-drop of Dundee itself, and more specifically the docks. The cage-like structures are delicate in their inception, and the collection available shows a combination of sterling and oxidised silver.

Want to see more from Nicola and Emma? ...Click here...

Salvaged Beauty...

Now you may remember we featured work by the collaborating graduates Nicola Reed & Sara Nevay back in June in It takes two... Well after sending out emails to graduates on creating collections for our soon to be launched on-line shop, Nicola got in touch to talk to us about her own pieces of jewellery.

We were of course more than happy to showcase some of the pieces she is looking at launching with us. Very excited, very flattered, & naturally we wanted you all to see for yourselves a small taster of what you can expect from Nicola Reed in the next couple of months.

These beautiful, beautiful pieces are from a collection entitled, Salvaged Bijous, & Nicola explained her inspiration came from broken & salvaged vintage jewellery. You can see she has a real sensibility when it comes to creating her pieces, & we simply cannot wait to showcase more in the coming months...

A Personal Journey...

Something sparkly makes our Friday top spot this week from graduate Roisin Connolly. Here is a quick snap-shot of pieces from her collection titled, 'Africa', where a visit to Kenya was the basis for her inspiration. We love a fresh & inventive approach to any craft, & these pieces make modern-day keepsakes, literally embossed with a hundred & one memories...

Humble beginnings...

Our round-up of best bits from New Designers begins with the buzz around graduate Elizabeth Humble, who was featuring her work in the 'One Year On' area at New Designers. After a busy year, her return was duly noted by winning the One Year On Award, a mere twelve months after winning the prestigious Goldsmiths' Company Award. Some truly beautiful, beautiful work, Elizabeth takes inspiration from the rugged landscape of the west coast of Scotland, to create these fragile structures...

Future-proof...

We're in a pre-New Designer's frame of mind, and one of the 'One Year On' graduates has caught our eye today...Silversmith Kathryn Hinton's silver & bronze bowls have a futuristic feel with their subtle facet detailing, perfect for just about anywhere, a real investment piece...yes please!

Quick-Draw...

As well as featuring graduates, are aim is to showcase part-time designers & makers. We got chatting to Laura Hudd a few weeks ago, a busy Visual Merchandiser, and she was telling us about her love for doodling. Due to her lack of time, and her job which sees her travelling the country on a weekly basis, she has honed her illustrative style into something less precious, almost throw-away in it's conception.

She prefers working at a small scale, and on anything but nice, artist paper, so envelopes & postcards are current favourite, and her only inspiration, whatever catches her eye!

Structural Delicacy...

As I'm sure you can tell, we do have a slight weakness towards jewellery, and the work by Emma Macleod is no exception. Again from the wonderfully creative talent pool, Duncan of Jordanstone, Dundee University, Emma takes the industrial aesthetic from the Dundee docklands to create these mini structural beauties. She manages to combine a toughness and elegance, and all balanced to perfection...

It takes two...

What's great about these two graduates, is that they pretty much encompass exactly the reason we are doing this...Not only are they amazingly inventive in their approach, but also working with the geographical challenges of living in two different parts of Scotland.

Re-worked is the collaborative project by Sara Nevay and Nicola Reed. Two graduates from Duncan of Jordanstone, University of Dundee, (we're big fans of the talent coming out of this establishment, and we'll be paying a visit in the not too distant future.)

Nicola with a Jewellery and Metalwork background, and Sara from a textile background, have come together to explore and experiment with their two specialisms to create some inventive and unique work.
We love the fact that their blog is literally their sketchbook and the quickest way they can get their ideas down 'on paper'. I could go on, but please check out the blog for yourselves, it's well worth a look and we'll certainly be in touch ladies...love love love!

Twinkle, twinkle...

We're just back from NYC and are speedily putting together a few highlights which we'll post over the next few days, but in the meantime, another amazing jewellery designer to whet your appetite with. 

A selection from the graduate Emily L. J.Boyd. These simple, yet striking pieces put her on the list as one to watch. We are definitely all about the silver and gold combination, mix this with an angular take on a classic bangle and we are sold!

All that glitters...

On a grey Saturday morning, this jewellery by Lisa J. Murphy has already brightened our day. We particularly like the mix of gold with silver, and the unique graphic intepretation of the pieces...

Ethical Jewellery

We found this beautiful collection of jewellery by the graduate designer Lynsey Pluck, see more of her work at:
http://www.lynseypluckjewellery.com