Lyndsay’s current jewellery collection ‘Na Mara’ developed from a visit to an industrial North Queensferry beach with friends. Captivated by the messy, ugly compositions of debris that had been created by the tides, she seeks to expose the unconventional beauty found in unexpected places. Accidental encounters with transient moments in nature have become a sustained source of interest. It is a theme she has continued to develop since graduating from the Glasgow School of Art’s Jewellery and Silversmithing course in 2018. Currently based in Edinburgh, she continues to be inquisitive about Scottish beaches, including Cramond, Elie, and Cromarty.

Although Lyndsay made the transition from drawing into handmade objects during her Foundation Diploma at Falmouth University – where she first discovered the joy of making jewellery, and exploring the surrounding coastline – the drawn line remains an important part of her making process, and it is used to develop pieces that vary with each iteration.

‘Na Mara’ – meaning ‘of the sea’ in Gaelic – describes the origins of Lyndsay’s collection. She takes inspiration from the ephemeral compositions of discarded knotted rope, rusted iron scraps and decaying seaweed, washed up by the tide onto Scottish beaches. Drawing is a vital part of her creative process, using mark-making in mixed media to develop abstract impressions from the coastal landscape, to inform the creation of her work.

Many of her pieces are non-identical pairs, made in similar forms with their own distinct pattern or shape. As with a drawing, each piece is unique. A mixture of precious and non-precious metals build a palette based on beach finds; sandy tones of copper and silver contrast with the stark black of enamel or patinated metal, to create patterns in metal like seaweed on the sand.