2017 & 2018

You can begin to really see my work refine from here. My student beginner skills are starting to develop into a professional. My continued love for chain really starts to show through (I’ll be honest, and it seems so silly now, but until I put this exhibition together I didn’t even realise how prominent handmade chain has been through my collections, and how obvious it is that it’s still at the core now). The biggest refinement I think you can see is the cement details; they are beginning to transform from large, impractical forms to delicate and encased in silver. 

I continued to push forward, showcasing with galleries such as the National Craft and Design centre, further pop-ups in Sheffield's Winter Gardens and Cupola Art Gallery. 

I continued to work from Bank Street and run The Jewellery Business with Emmie until the summer, when the commute between Leeds and Sheffield was becoming exhausting and a new, prominent stage of my career was developing - my curation job with The Craft Centre and Design Gallery.

Curation of contemporary craft had always been of interest to me, and I was ready to leave general retail for something much more relevant to my career. I convinced the Craft Centre to take me on for a one month internship and just a few short months later, they offered me the position of Jewellery Coordinator - curating and organising the jewellery side of the gallery, quite a dream come true at the time and one I am still so grateful for. 

In late 2017 I exhibited at my first international Jewellery fair, SIERAAD. An absolutely huge opportunity to put my work in front of the European market for the first time. I shared a stand with jewellers Libby Ward and Rachel Butlin, and met jewellers from all over the world that I still have contact with today. I fell in love with Amsterdam on that trip, and in January 2018 I took my first solo holiday back to the city. I explored, sketched and immersed myself in the creative culture there, which would later feed a very important project.

Early 2018, I finally found a Leeds based studio with Fabrication. I met Dawn and Andrew and saw the potential of the big, freezing, drafty building immediately - and moved in during one of the coldest winters we’d had. I’ll always remember my mum asking me, do I really want to do this?

2018 was also the first year I exhibited with Byre Gallery in Cornwall, a gallery which would support my career through to today. 

I exhibited at my first Great Northern, taught my first jewellery workshops, and began to build the business I have now.