It was not until I had completed my first jewellery collection, titled Sybil, that I realised that my great uncle’s rings, with their weight and heft, which he wore as though they were weightless, were my key inspiration. And on some level, I suppose this lies at the core of why I became a fine jewellery designer – to distill the essence of our ancient heritage and transform it into something that also incorporates a more angular, British sensibility. Many of my pieces seem Victorian to my eye – and that makes sense when you consider that Britain’s colonial empire reached its peak during the Victorian age. It’s story-telling and recording history through the medium of jewellery.
