For the past two years I have been designing and creating sterling silver jewellery and for the past year that jewellery has been inspired by the Art Deco time period, a period which I have always described as glitzy and glamorous with a dark underbelly.
So what happens before the Art Deco designs appear on the silver?
They appear on paper.
As I began researching and looking into the Art Deco time period I found that I was spending rather a lot of time on these geometric doodles, in the end half of my doodle sketchbook was filled to the brim with these full page drawings. At one point I knew these drawings wouldn't be turned into designs, it was just so therapeutic drawing all these lines with no indication of how the final image would turn out.
Suddenly these doodles found their way onto a larger piece of paper, with more room to add in lines.
Just like with my metalwork I experimented with the drawings, using different mediums such as paint, tape and pens although in the end I found that using a black sharpie gave me better control of the drawing instead of paint which sometimes seeped out of the lines. I also used different colours by adding silver to the black lines and choosing another colour instead of black. In the end I found that the plain black lines sat really well against the white paper.
For the past two years I have always seen myself as a metalsmith and I still do, but sometimes I think it is nice to take a step back from your day job and see what else you can do!
If you would like to see and know more about our artwork just send us a wee message!