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2nd & 3rd August 2025
LEAMINGTON SPA
10am-6pm
TheCluttery
Website:
'@thecluttery
'@thecluttery
Portrait Pendant
Sky At Night Celestial Hoops
Mid-Century Poppy Brooch
Biography
TheCluttery's motto is 'bold jewellery for bold people' and that's something that I aim to honour when I'm creating a new design. My vision is to make beautiful, creative, thoughtful and inclusive jewellery, which is why I talk about bold people, rather than bold women.
My work is essentially costume jewellery in the sense that I use a variety of materials, not all of them 'fine'. My mission is to demonstrate that jewellery needn't be expensive or precious to be beautiful or indeed, become a piece that is kept for years.
I love talking with customers about the artistic movements that inspire me or the techniques and materials that make my designs unique. In a world of mass production, to be able to make a connection with the person who made your jewellery is a rarity.
inspiration
I am inspired by my love for the history of art and design, which I studied at BA level, and also my lifelong interest in arts and crafts of all kinds. Exhibitions and art books are my go-to for source material. I'm known for my Art Deco style pieces, based on architectural forms, and for my kitsch floral necklaces that were based on 1950's wallpaper designs. I love to try out new techniques and so I often set myself challenges to make a piece in a certain style or using a particular material. Recently I designed a range of wooden hand-painted floral pieces based on mid-century textile motifs. My newest design (a hand painted tiny Girl With A Pearl Earring inside an acrylic frame and worn as a pendant) combines my love for art history, hand painting and different materials to make what is a rather personal piece for me.
medium
I use a range of traditional and unconventional materials to create my original jewellery, including silver and brass, acrylic, wood and plywood, paints, paper and pearls. Each design starts with a sketch which I then refine using old fashioned hand drawing, showing all the separate components to be cut. Then I convert this drawing into a computer file the laser cutter can read - it then cuts each component in whichever colour acrylic or wood type I choose. Next, depending on the design, I hand paint details and construct each piece by hand using the required components which the machine has cut out. I tend to make in batches to save time and there are often many stages involved in creating the final piece, but with a podcast or some music on the time just flies by.