Hi there… Welcome to my wonderful world, where jewellery, textiles and needle crafts collide!
Once upon a time there was a little girl (yep, I am her!) who loved spending quality time with her Mam (Gran), Great Auntie Phyl and Nana watching and learning different needle crafts.
Many other creative activities also took place (redesigning chocolate bar wrappers was also a firm favourite… maybe because the chocolate bar had to be eaten first!), but there was something about the mindful, therapeutic acts of French knitting, crocheting, stitching and weaving which just couldn’t be shaken!
Having become a little bored of wool - After all, what use was there for reams of continuous lengths of woollen tubes?! Other than having a house full of coasters! (I’d love to know if you made anything else from yours?). And while I waited for a light bulb moment and the Suzanne Claire Jewellery story to begin, I enjoyed making ceramic tiles inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, creating veneer jewellery boxes, making stilettos out of modroc (the dry bandage which when wet is used to make plaster cast for broken bone), melting plastic bags to create stilettos (I didn't know at the time how bad this was!), and using my Auntie Phyl's sewing machine to stitch a paper corset deemed unwearable! It's times like now that I wish I'd kept hold of these creations, or at least the photographic evidence!
Being a jeweller actually never occurred to me. Becoming a fashion and textile designer was my dream while studying for my art foundation at Manchester Met. Right up until I had my interview for a textile degree course. The interviewing tutors, however, thought I was more suited to be an embroidery student. So, a little confused, I took their advice, and took a gap year with the intention of applying for an embroidery degree the following year. In this gap year I also decided I was going to continue my stitched card making 'business' and start a business embroidering bags with sparkly beads! But then my friend and I signed up for a short jewellery course at Central St. Martins in London and the rest is history! My obsession with bashing metal, (or more to the point, imprinting into metal using a roller mill) was born and my story as the brand Suzanne Claire Jewellery began!
I never quite shook off my love of textiles however, and even during my Three Dimensional Design degree, I unconsciously continued to weave the two disciplines. To this day, and 15 years later, I still can't decide whether I want to be a textile designer or a jeweller. I feel at home somewhere in between so for now I’ll continue to combine the two.
If you want to hear how my jewellery story continues to evolve, make sure you’re signed up to my mailing list HERE so you don’t miss out on any special offers, exclusive launches, or secret sale shops!
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