Popping round for a visit...

A few weeks ago I went to visit my friend Jane, which is always great because i get to have a peek around her studio/office. Jane's a jewellery designer, one of Dundee's many talented creatives and you might have read mentions on my blog before about her. I'm always really curious about seeing other peoples workspaces and so I took a few photos as I thought you might be keen to have a look too. I recently took part in "A Day in the Life of..." which is a nice blogging project Nikki McWilliams started. Keen to find out more about the day to day life of a jewellery designer I asked Jane a few questions and thought I could share them with you..

What's a typical day for you as a jewellery designer?
I like to be in my studio for 10am and I finish my day around 9pm. There is no set structure to my day but I like to begin by answering emails and writing a list or two... or three. At the moment my day is then spent at my workbench making the new collection and I usually fit in an almost daily trip to the post office. In between this I like to dedicate a little time to social networking, marketing and devising future plans. At the moment attention is focussed on our recently launched Valentine's Pop Up Shop and the release of our brand new Geology Rocks Collection on the 2nd of March.

You have a really nice sensibility with the styling of your jewellery, is that something you have in mind from the start when you're designing the collection or is it something that works it's way in nearer the end?
Thank you. I look at so many sources of inspiration and am surrounded by fashion imagery all the time so I imagine that this feeds into what I curate subconsciously. The styling is mainly inspired by the piece itself so I like to make the work first to decide what kind of shoot would best reflect the collection.

I've been lucky to get little sneaky peeks in the development of Jane's new collection over the past year. She's put so much time into developing each piece, combining 3d printing techniques with more hands-on traditional techniques and I can really see how much painstaking attention goes into the tiniest details. I'm really excited to see it all come together. What will your final collection be like?
The new collection is inspired by the amazing facets, patterns and structures that are found in geological forms. The pieces are bigger and bolder than before and are created using a fusion of both cutting edge technologies and traditional jewellery manufacturing techniques. In March the Geology Rocks Collection will be released in both 18ct Gold Vermeil and Oxidised Silver colour ways.

What are your favourite blogs for inspiration?
The Cut, F7 Jewellery, See it. Love it. Want it. Need it.

Jane's going to be launching the collection, Geology Rocks at curious Edinburgh boutique, Black Box on the 2nd of March. It's an open event but you'll need to sign up first by contacting Jane directly.

Good luck Jane, I'm sure it'll go down a storm!

Image of Black Box by What Kristen Saw.