Living and working on Dartmoor has had a positive and profound impact on my work and my aim became to reflect the tactile qualities of the surrounding flora and fauna within my jewellery making. I began experimenting with transposing these surface qualities by reproducing the textures through casting in silver; reticulating and hammering the surface of the metal and embedding semi-precious stones to reflect the natural colours of my environment.

I first became interested in jewellery at a teenager and went to evening classes. My degree is in 3D design and led to a love of working with materials. After many years of full time teaching I began evening classes in silversmithing and rediscovered those feelings. I sent myself on courses to develop my jewellery making skills further at the London and was eventually introduced to casting, this was the turning point. I kept developing my skills and eventually left my teaching job and became a full time self-employed jeweller during the summer of 2019. I am an associate member of MAKE Southwest

I am a gardener and love being in nature and on a walk one day discovered some Honey Fungus (Armillaria mellea) under the bark of a dead tree in the forest. This is an amazing fungus, the most destructive fungal disease in UK gardens and can have a devastating effect spreading underground, attacking and killing the roots of trees and shrubs and then decaying the dead wood. However, the network of rhizomorphs that spread underground and under the bark are extremely beautiful with an incredible texture and I became excited and inspired to use the eye-catching beauty of this pathogenic fungus.

I began to cast from it and most recently I have produced a body of silver work, casting directly from the rhizomorphs of Honey Fungus, the resulting jewellery is beautiful, visually exciting and dynamic.

The Circle collection also derive from the fungal cells, on a microscopic level. The reticulated and Hammered collections reflect the surface textures in nature, around Dartmoor.

As an environmentalist, my aim is to reflect nature and also, importantly, to reduce the environmental impact of my business and I am constantly looking for new ways to achieve this. I make strong efforts to address all the aspects of my business to ensure wherever possible the materials, processes and packaging I use are sourced mindfully of their provenance, sustainability and ethical impact, using only recycled silver and gold and ethically sourced stones. In the workshop melting down and reusing offcuts. A company reclaims precious metals from all the workbench lemel and any disposable materials used. I am moving over to environmentally friendly alternatives to chemicals in my everyday processes of polishing and pickling. All my packaging is made from recycled materials.

I hope you enjoy my work and please get in touch if you have any questions

Nicky B