Roxanne Gilbert's journey from a South London spare room to a fully equipped studio with a view of Cornwall's tranquil shores has transformed her jewellery-making practice. Now, she’s set to debut her “Spheres” collection at Shine 2024, the Goldsmiths’ Centre's prestigious annual exhibition spotlighting the most exciting emerging talent in the industry. Her collection features one-of-a-kind rings, earrings, and necklaces adorned with clusters of vibrantly coloured spherical gemstones and pearls in contrasting sizes.
“Bold” and “empowering” are words the maker uses to describe these pieces, which dare to draw attention, and reject the archetype of ‘dainty’ feminine jewellery. Roxanne blends metal and stone seamlessly to create showstopping wearable sculptures, drawing inspiration from the unpredictable forms found in nature, and the rugged Cornish coastline she calls home.
Early Creativity
I've always been creative and love working with my hands. I've been making and collecting jewellery since I was a little girl. Later in life, I went through a phase of designing and customising clothes and even took a footwear design course at one point, so I think I’ve always been particularly interested in body adornment. My mum was really arty and would make beautiful objects and homewares from nothing, old scraps of fabric and recycling. She brought myself and my 3 siblings up on her own, with no money, so we learned to either source second-hand or make the things we wanted to wear.
I always struggled academically at school and knew a creative career was what I really wanted. Art and design was where I thrived. After working in fashion doing various unfulfilling admin jobs in London, it was getting pregnant with my first child 10 years ago that made me decide to try and forge ahead with a creative vocation. I enrolled in a morning class at Morley College and knew from the moment I sat down at the bench that I was on the right path. I remember the feeling of contentment being cocooned in the bench with the peg high and my seat low. It just felt right.
Since then, I have been raising my two sons whilst honing my making skills, discovering my design style, and building up my collection of tools. 'It's a marathon not a sprint’ is a phrase that often reminds me that the right things will happen for me at the right time. I've been tempted by other creative disciplines over the years because I love to make and I love to learn and discover new mediums, but I've had to be strict and focus purely on my jewellery. My time at the bench has been limited so I really had to be disciplined about it. my youngest son started school last year so I am now in a position where I can dedicate more time and resources to my practice, and focus on turning my passion into my career.
Recognition and Motivation
There are so many people making jewellery out there and the judges and Shine team are exposed to a lot of high-quality jewellery every day, so being chosen by them to take part in this programme is such an honour. It's reassuring to feel that all the time and care I put into my creations is being recognised and acknowledged by people who really understand jewellery. It's a massive boost to my confidence and will hopefully open up new opportunities to make connections and show my jewellery further afield. Being a maker can be a solitary experience and you can get in your own head a bit. The design journey, particularly when developing new work is always a roller coaster and self doubt and imposter syndrome can make you question yourself, so it's good to have somebody in the know say - you’re doing well, keep going! It’s exciting and encouraging.
Design Style and Process
My design style is bold and sculptural - I don't really do dainty, particularly for the current collection that I'm showing at Shine. I have strong hands and I'm drawn to bigger rings that compliment them, the desire to create jewellery I want to wear has always been a consideration. I'm driven by the materials and the processes I use and guided by those techniques and tools I enjoy using. I love the feeling of a file carving and sculpting metal - so satisfying! Soldering is always nerve wracking and magical in equal measure. Working with wax allows for quick results and there's less at stake when things go wrong. That allows for freedom and exploration which I love.
Starting with a rough idea of how a piece will look I will begin by building up the elements in wax, carving shanks and creating perfect little cup settings for the gems and pearls to sit in. As I make, the design changes and evolves and the piece dictates the journey to some extent. It's not just about the individual components working together, it's also about the space between them. I'll try different arrangements until it feels right. My aim is to find balance and harmony between the metal and the gemstones and create the illusion that they are one and the same. I find it helps to know who will wear the piece I'm working on so I can imagine it in situ. I sometimes ask clients to send me a photo of their hands as it helps me visualise the scale and imagine it being worn by them.
Inspiration
It's difficult for me to pinpoint a single source of inspiration. My work is heavily influenced by the materials I use, the processes and techniques I enjoy, and those that fit the vision I have in my mind.
Since moving to Cornwall, I’ve definitely felt a shift in my creative energy. I walk on the beach each morning with my dog, and every day the coastline is different. It changes constantly, and it’s really meditative and beautiful. Quite different from the school run in Brixton! Starting the day immersed in nature calms me and makes space for creativity to blossom. I go to the workshop feeling positive and hopeful.
When we lived in London, we would escape to the countryside every opportunity we got and school holidays were usually spent driving to Scotland or Dorset. I'm always looking for beauty in the world around me and I like to think I have a keen eye for it. Particularly when it's unintentional or natural - that perfect imperfection and asymmetry that nature does so well is much more my innate style than uniformity. Maybe that's why I'm so drawn to curves and circles and organic arrangements and why being in nature fuels my creativity. The city and urban landscape is so angular and full of straight lines, isn't it? For me there's more marvel in beauty that's spontaneous and uncontrived.
The Spheres Collection
The collection is called Spheres. It is a celebration of spherical gemstones and pearls that have been combined with contrasting and complimentary alloys to create new bold forms. The collection started as a series of rings as the sculptural design lends itself well to this type of piece, however I'm excited to have recently added necklaces and earrings to the collection, too. It is ever-growing and changing as I develop and explore alternative arrangements and combinations. I love movement in jewellery and I found that quite tricky to capture in rings, but the newer pieces incorporate ball chain and strung beads which add movement and so much more. I’m really excited about exhibiting them.
Setting and Material Choices
The metal usually forms the mechanics - enabling the piece to be wearable and holding the gems and pearls in position. That point where they meet has to be seamless so that they become one. I design them to work in harmony so both are equally integral to the overall form of the piece. I explore colour palettes and combinations based on the gemstones I am able to source. They have to be quite opaque in order for the setting to be invisible and of course, really high quality in colour and finish. I find that warmer gold tones complement most gemstones, but silver for me personally is much more suited to cooler hues like pale blues or purples.
One day, I’d love to make some spherical pieces with pink and green tourmalines, which are a bit more transparent. I'm currently experimenting with ways to set cabochons in cup settings to give the illusion of spheres as I think this will broaden my choice of stones. The intricate details and undercuts in my designs make them difficult to cast, so each setting has to be custom-made. This complexity ensures that every piece is unique and tailored specifically to its components.
I'm pretty obsessed with jewellery as a whole and I love seeing what other people are making and wearing. I'm always thinking about how things were made and trying to figure out the processes and tools involved. If I can't, I'm impressed - especially if I know it involves a difficult technique. This mindset influences my own work in a really positive way - I'm always striving to push myself and learn more. I want my pieces to be truly unique and it's a bonus if I know they might be challenging to replicate, not because I'm worried about others copying my designs, just because I want people to wonder and ponder like I do.
Workspace and Tools
I started off with a peg clamped onto a writing desk in the corner of my bedroom in a flat share in London. I eventually progressed to a spare room and built up a collection of tools and equipment, slowly adding to my little workshop every birthday and Christmas to justify getting them. Finally, I have enough space to have everything out and accessible which has really opened up new possibilities and made me feel more confident in what I can make and achieve. It also makes me feel a bit more legitimate in my craft. I guess tools can be intimidating before you know how to work with them so having that knowledge and those skills reminds me how far I've come.
Client Commissions
I've made numerous Spheres rings over the years and agate, lapis, and pearls set in gold are my most popular design. I had one client who wanted me to create something special for her to wear in place of her wedding set, once her divorce was finalised. I made her a beautiful pearl and gold showstopper. I like to think it makes her feel more confident and more powerful when she wears it.
Future Ambitions
I'm really looking forward to returning to London and the Goldsmiths’ Centre - I haven’t been in a while, and I’ve missed it. I’m excited to meet the other participants and the Shine team who have been so kind and guided us through this journey with so much patience and compassion. I'm excited and also a bit nervous to showcase my new work and get some feedback. The scale and weight of larger, bolder pieces can only be properly understood and appreciated when you see them in real life and you can handle them and feel their weight and scale.
Living in Cornwall is lovely but it can feel a bit like you’re tucked away, especially after living in the capital for so long. I’d really like to get out and do more in-person events across the country. One of my ambitions is to participate in Goldsmiths’ Fair someday, and I’ve always dreamt of going overseas to exhibit my work - especially in America. I have never been and to go there on my own would be so amazing and exciting. Making jewellery has always been such a personal thing for me, my therapy and my escape from the everyday routine and my role as a mum. Travelling and showcasing my work independently would feel like a natural extension of that and I'm hopeful it will be the next chapter in my jewellery journey.