REALISATION

Searching for pebbles on the beach on family holidays first triggered my interest in jewellery making. I would polish the semi-precious stones, carnelian, agate & jasper, then find ways of using them in necklaces or earrings.

This led, later on, to working primarily in silver, and with less conventional materials & found objects, like horn embellished with gold leaf & old pipe stems from the Thames foreshore. More recently I have been using handmade silk braid, as an affectionate tribute, woven by a Japanese student here at Morley.

The love of colour drew me towards the practice of enamelling, a medium I’m using more & more, from simple colourful imagined beasts to landscape brooches & pendants for necklaces. I was on the staff of Tate Modern for many years, exhibited there, & found many sources of inspiration there.

I really enjoy working with a person for whom a piece is being made. It becomes a collaboration so that something of their own identity can be expressed.

-Carolyn Lucas