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My story
I was a potter by trade originally and for many years this was my true passion and profession. I taught pottery at our local recreation centre in Johannesburg while actively participating in numerous ceramic exhibitions, competitions and festivals throughout South Africa.
In 1972 our local branch of the Yeoville recreation centre offered a free course in jewellerymaking, marking the beginning of my journey into this craft. I acquired all the essential tools and equipment to pursue jewellerymaking full-time, yet I could not shake the longing for the feel of wet clay in my hands.
After moving to a new house with more space, I packed away my jewellerymaking tools and set up my pottery studio once more. In 2012, while creating a ceramic abstract apple sculpture for a national competition in Cape Town, I was hunting around for a silversmith to make the stalk for me. It occured to me that I could possibly make it myself so I dusted off my tools and, bonus, discovered a small box filled with sterling silver left over from 20 years before. During this time the value had increased tenfold. I also found some lovely semi-precious gemstones that I had forgotten I had. I was very chuffed with the way the silver apple stalk turned out.
At this point in my life I began to realize that lugging around large bags of clay and heavy pots was becoming quite burdensome for me. I noticed my daughter wearing some of my sterling silver jewellery that I had made decades before and I decided to create a custom ring for her birthday. The excitement I felt while doing this and her delight with the end product was enough to reignite my passion for jewellerymaking. I enrolled in a class to reacquaint myself with the latest processes and equipment and to refresh my skills.
There is something so profoundly fulfilling about transforming raw materials into a piece of wearable art, to watch the silver take shape under my hands to become something beautiful and meaningful.
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