Eleanor Bolton is a British designer based in London. Eleanor trained at the Royal College of Art and started her label upon graduating in 2010. Known for her unique craft technique of coiling and hand stitching cotton rope to create sculptural yet lightweight tactile jewellery. Eleanor’s jewellery comes from her focus on an intuitive and sensitive approach to the micro details of making processes, as well as to the precise scale of the pieces. This attention to detail, combined with the innovative use of the materials define Eleanor’s approach and strong aesthetic appeal. Colour inspiration for the collections often comes from fine art and the bold use of colour and textile techniques marry to create statement tribal and nautical inspired jewellery.
Eleanor featured in our textile jewellery exhibition, Feeling Fabric, November 2019.
Since her MA studies at the Royal College of Art, London, Yoko Izawa has been exploring concepts of ambiguity and formal material constraints. Now based in Japan, her jewellery uses a range of non-precious materials to establish a series of tensions between inside and outside, strength and delicacy and between certainty and ambiguity. Izawa’s veiled jewellery series, serves to express her interpretation of Japanese cultural values and religious spirituality. Izawa was shortlisted for the Jerwood Applied Arts Prize in 2007.
‘When immersed in creative activities I feel that the sense of beauty and value within my culture surfaces and moulds my work. For my means of expression, I feel more comfortable when the work has a quality of ambiguity or transience. My interest has been for some time in containing, covering, or wrapping things. The search has been for something elusive. The function and material nature of jewellery does not concern me as much as the presence and feeling of an object. Veiled jewellery reflects my assumption that although certainty is often required in modern society, ambiguous expression has been the most distinctive characteristic found in Japanese values and religious beliefs.’ – Yoko Izawa
Beth is a textile jewellery designer and maker who works with rope, embroidery thread and macrame.
“Rope is a material that is affordable, sustainable, flexible and strong but lightweight. It can be manipulated in a way that completely transforms it. Learning different knots and seeing how, if repeated, they can be made into a necklace or bracelet was inspiring for me. I love that by using just my hands I can transform a humble, simple material into a statement piece of jewellery. These necklaces are large, bright and playful, but still light and easy-to-wear. They are statement pieces, designed to be as impactful as the outfit they are worn with.
I started out by making jewellery solely for me to wear. I had little money and wanted to make pieces that would instantly lift and add to an outfit. However, by sharing my work online (mainly via Instagram) it gradually became clear that jewellery made with rope in bold colours was popular.
I am fortunate that over the years my business has developed. All of the pieces are made in my small studio in my home in Sheffield – working from home allows me to balance making and looking after my four children.”
Beth Pegler, 2019
Beth featured in our textile jewellery exhibition, Feeling Fabric, November 2019.