Artists - Jewellery

Sue Chadwick

silver

Sue Chadwick began designing and making silver jewellery in her native Zimbabwe and when she arrived in UK in 1997, she began by showing her work at Janet Fitch, Soho. In 1998, she registered with the Guildhall in London who hold her personal hallmark and currently mark her pieces. Her work is made from either sterling silver (925) or pure silver (999) and is totally original in its design. Eminently fashionable, television news readers can often be seen sporting Sue Chadwick’s jewellery.

Firepetals

assorted beads, silver, ebony & gemstones

Firepetals is the creative collaboration of modern jewellery designers Adeline Joubert and Adi Cloete, who both live and work in the Cape, RSA. Adeline did her BA degree in Pretoria before studying jewellery design in Cape Town, whilst Adi trained in jewellery design in Stellenboch. Their inspiration is diverse and they work in a multitude of different mediums to produce individual wearable works of art. In a world awash with mass produced adornment, they seek to educate their customers in the delights of handmade jewellery which reflects personal style and taste. They also teach jewellery making to aspiring creatives and exhibit extensibley both locally and abroad, most notably recently in Munich, Berlin, Turnov and Liverpool.

Kazuri

ceramic

Kazuri beads (meaning “small and beautiful” in Swahili are individually handmade by the team of 300 women employed in Kenya. Founded by the late Lady Susan Wood in 1975 to provide employment for struggling single mothers, Kazuri beads are still created on part of Karen Blixen’s original farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills. They are kiln fired once, painted and glazed, and then fired for a second time before being strung. New ranges are brought out every season in appropriate and exciting new colourways.

Mambu

ostrich shell

Mother of four, Francoise is the creative genius behind Mambu, designing and making this exquisite range of unusual jewellery primarily from ostrich shell. An abundant resource close to her home in Johannesburg, ostrich shell is attractive and hard wearing , as well as distinctively African, making it an ideal material from which to create ethnic jewellery.

Tintsaba

sisal & silver

Since 1985, Tintsaba Crafts under Sheila Freemantle, has run a rural development project in the Northern Hhohho region of Swaziland. The project works with women’s groups producing and marketing quality crafts. The project is an outstanding success, with some 600 women now producing a wide range of traditional and innovative crafts , including tableware, functional baskets, collectors’ baskets, trays, natural jewellery and woven sisal disks for Tintsaba’s jewellery with the finest quality weaving in sisal in Africa. In 1999, Tintsaba established the Silver Jewellery workshop, with the objective of combining their best woven sisal disks with sterling silver. The result is striking, original jewellery, combining Western quality and excellence with African craft and design.

Frieda Luhl

assorted jewellery

Frieda Luhl was born, and grew up on a cattle farm in Namibia, subsequently moving to Germany to learn her trade as a goldsmith. She studied at the Schwaebisch Gmuend School for Jewellery and learnt traditional techniques such as engraving, silversmithing and enamelling, In 2004, Frieda moved back to Cape Town. She believes that it is this rich contrast in her up bringing that has given her jewellery the aesthetic it has – each piece is unique and she uses natural materials, which contrast in colour, texture and density. Her early work included local materials such as beach pebbles, shells and fragments of ostrich egg. She has progressed onto etched work, set with stones and impressive rings which are bold graphic statements, captivating the wearer as well as passersby.

Avoova

ostrich shell bangles

South African artist, Gideon Engelbrecht, first started experimenting with ostrich eggshell as an art form on his arrival in the remote town of Prince Albert in the mid 1990’s. In 2004, Engelbrecht went into partnership with Tom Goddard and together they set about developing their processes and designs.
Resisting the practical temptations of moving to Cape Town, Avoova has remained faithful to its roots, expanding in Prince Albert to become one of the biggest employers in a community widely recognised as one of South Africa’s most disadvantaged. In defiance of the harsh climatic conditions and remoteness of their location, the team of highly skilled craftsmen and women make award-winning products of quality. Thousands of shards of broken eggshell, collected from the local ostrich breeders, are painstakingly selected and placed in individual designs, which undergo at least fifteen distinct processes to protect and enhance their beauty.

Elizabeth Tambwe

shell & bead necklaces

Elizabeth Tambwe is originally from Tanzania, but she now lives and works in Hout Bay in Cape Town. She designs all her jewellery herself, sourcing the beads locally in South Africa, but collecting the shells from the east coast of Africa on her travels back home.

Hanan Yanny

necklaces from assorted materials

Hanan Yanny is an extraordinary woman with an eye for design and colour. Hanan’s love of jewellery began when she discovered antique African beads in the old market of Omdurman whilst working with a UN refugee program in Sudan. From that, she went to sourcing beads from all over Africa. Whilst in Cape Town, she invested in labour rather than machinery and trained women from the townships with HIV/ AIDS to make jewellery, including her famed paper range, which got showcased in Paris. In her own words, Hanan says;
“Since birth, I have lived, worked and travelled extensively in many areas of the world. I do not really belong to any one country, and consider myself to be a global citizen. I am an Egyptian woman, born in Saudi Arabia, raised between the UK and Nigeria and lived and worked in South Africa from 1994 – 2009. I have now moved back to the UK.”

Belinda Beckley

bead & love bean necklaces

Belinda Beckley, the original ‘Love Bean Queen of Africa’, runs her small community driven business from home in Somerset West, RSA, where all finished products are lovingly hand made by a team of dedicated ladies from Khayamandi. The Love Bean is as special as it is rare. As the largest bean in the world the Entada Gigas starts its journey by escaping its massive seed pod (up to 2 meters long) to drift along swampy rivers and finally be set free to the sea. The Love Bean (also known as the ‘sea bean’ or ‘sea heart’) is dispersed by ocean currents, often travelling 1000’s of kilometres to find new suitable habitats. The tough outer shell endures the salt water and stormy seas until it reaches fertile soil. It is a matter of luck and fortune if a bean survives to take root and grow. The Love Bean is thus a symbol of perseverance, endurance, faith and bountiful rewards.

Tessa Kelly

copper pendant jewellery with assorted beads

Tessa studied for an honours degree in silversmith and jewellery design at the Glasgow School of Art. On graduating, she worked as a silversmith for three years in the workshops of Hamilton and Inches, Edinburgh. After living on the Greek island of Zakynthos, Tessa has come home to South Africa’s Cape, to where her heart has always belonged. Inspired by the rich and diverse natural heritage of South Africa, she is currently working on flora and fauna designs in copper. Lucky beans have been collected by generations of South African children from beneath the Umsintsi Tree for good fortune. Now, Tessa has gathered these seeds, hand drilled them and incorporated them into each of her designs, so that you may also share in some of Southern Africa’s magic.