Throughout the summer months I have been working with the fantastic jeweller Amanda Doughty on our collaborative project – sharing ideas and inspiration to develop new experimental work together.
For the project we began by sharing the things and places that inspire us. Amanda’s work is influenced by the setting of the urban seafront of her home town – finding creative inspiration in the details she sees in unassuming things such as piles of deckchairs, corrugated iron and road markings. We walked together on the seafront and shared our enthusiasm for looking and noticing.
After our visit to the seafront, we shared a walk through the South Downs – a place where I find my inspiration – looking at the flint and chalk landscape and the trees, lichen and roots I see on my walks. We both took photographs of details along the paths and talked about the things that inspire us both in the countryside.
Upturned tree roots with flint and chalk amongst the roots; Foliage growing on fallen trees.
We’re now working independently on ideas and pieces that reflect what each of us saw and how we can interpret the world through the other’s eyes. Below are some of my sketches and test pieces emerging from the process.
I tried test pieces inspired by road markings, corrugated iron and even a disco ball that hangs on a pole on the seafront.
Amanda worked on a test piece of jewellery that explored the idea of tangled roots of upturned trees, where pieces of flint are still held amongst the roots.. Amanda imagined that she might add stones to wire to capture this idea.
The ideas we’re looking at are the starting points for potential finished pieces, but for now we’re allowing ourselves the time to experiment and investigate.
There’ll be more to show next month as we explore ideas influenced by each other’s work.
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