My Story in Jewellery Design

I have spent most of my life as a foodie, musician and professional chef, but over the years became more and more interested in jewellery - especially sterling silver.

I’m mostly self-taught but have spent time training with Lisa Anne Dickenson in Ludlow, Shropshire.

I design and make beautiful hand-made silver jewellery to order and work with age old techniques like annealing, hammering, soldering and reticulation.

My mother was from Denmark, and as children we spent all of our summer holidays at my grandmother’s beach house on the northern coast of Jutland in Denmark. Here, I remember enormous sand dunes, ice cold sea and treasure from the Atlantic Ocean washed up on the beach. The best times on the beach were searching the high-water mark after a storm.

Growing up in Kent, I was surrounded by my mother’s Danish jewellery and a lot of it had been worn by her mother. I love the thought that my own pieces might be passed on down through the generations.

The Danes are well known for their silver jewellery and that heritage surely plays a part in my designs, but of course, I get ideas from all around me.

When I’m not walking the woods and canals of rural Leicestershire, my favourite times are spent on Norfolk and Dorset beaches with my wife Carolyn and Betty the Jack Russel. It's here a lot of the ideas flow, looking at broken shells, pebbles, driftwood and patterns left in the sand as the tide goes out.

For me a beach is a giant mood board of ideas.

We live on a farm in the Vale of Belvoir, Leicestershire and my studio is up in the rafters of the old barn we call home. When I’m in this room, time just drifts by working with silver, brass, copper and Shibuichi which is an ancient mixture of silver and copper melted together into an alloy. Centuries ago it was used to embellish Samuri swords.

I hope you like my designs and would love to hear from you. If you see something and would like to incorporate a design feature from another item. Please let me know and I’m sure I can help - there are so many variations which can work to make something beautiful and unique.

Why recycled silver?

I work with ethically sourced Eco silver whenever I can.

More and more people these days are mindful of diminishing the earth’s natural resources and the environmental damage that is caused by taking precious metals out of the ground.

I want to play my small part in sustainable sourcing as the environmental and social costs of metals mining can use as much as 10 per cent of world energy. Other problems that occur are arsenic emissions, cyanide and mercury poisoning, child labour, human rights abuses, as well as vast landscape damage and pollution of underground water systems. Recycling silver also helps with less waste in landfills and cuts down on air miles.

The same thinking goes into my packaging which is eco-friendly and can be recycled.