2010s

  • Chrysanthemum Flower

    This brooch is large and amazingly three dimensional. It is made by the Japanese design company Monocircus. The company was founded by Kazunori Takeishi and Lim Shing Ee in 2011. Kazunori was born in Fukui, Japan and originally graduated as an architect, while Lim comes from Singapore and studied Art. Their philosophy is to make ‘wearable’…

  • Ten Boats’ Keels

    This brooch is surprisingly large, at 8cm across and made of silver.  The simplicity and sharpness of the design immediately attracted me, usually when I am considering purchasing a brooch I ponder for a while.  I might place it on a ‘wish list’ or continue to wander around a fair before making a final decision. …

  • Fractured Abstract

    This wonderful abstract brooch is by the Scottish designer Hazel Thorn.  It is made from silver and gilding-metal.  Gilding-metal is a high-copper brass alloy made from 95% Copper and 5% Zinc, which are fused together.   Firstly, Hazel fuses rods of the two metals (silver & gilding-metal) together side-by-side.  These are rolled out as one sheet,…

  • Three City Gents

    These brooches were designed by Deborah Crow as part of the Transport for London brooch competition and exhibition based on the TubeFlash project.  In 2017 TfL joined forces with Craft Central to hold a competition to design new brooches for sale as part of the TfL product range.  The winning brooches were part of the…

  • Three Queens

    This elegant brooch is by the designer and jewellery maker Ella Fearon-Low, who I met a few years ago at the London Dazzle exhibition. We quickly began a conversation about brooches and arranged for Ella to come and view my collection. We had a wonderful afternoon and over a cup of tea and piece of…

  • Frida Kahlo

    This brooch was made by Iris De La Torre who was born in the city of Guadalajara in western Mexico. She came to London in 2003 to study art & design and jewellery making. Iris has a passion for bright, bold colours and her Mexican heritage has greatly influenced her. She uses plastic which is…

  • Elegant Circle

    This brooch is perhaps one of the most elegant in my collection.  It is by the designer Andrew Lamb who is based in Scotland.  On the face of it. It is a simple design; a silver ring across which fine strips of gold and silver have been placed. But look more carefully, the strips subtly…

  • Ice and a Slice

    It is time to celebrate.  This weekend Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are tying the knot so I’m raising a glass to the happy couple.  This is a rather special glass by jewellery designer and silversmith Sue Wainwright.  The main body of this brooch is made of silver with two Swarovski crystals as ice cubes…

  • Tide

    This brooch is made of silver by the Scottish jeweller Beth Legg.  Beth has created this brooch by using traditional repoussé and chasing silversmithing techniques, which involve hammering the brooch on the reverse to create the indentations.  When I met Beth she explained that the process was both time consuming and painful as the repetitive…

  • Circle and Dangles

    This brooch is designed and made by Titti Sundblom.  It is made of silver with a garnet cabochon surrounded by gold.  It was while on holiday in Finland that I first met Titti at SALT an all-female artists’ co-operative located on the Islands of Åland, in the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea between…