It was around 2011, whilst studying for my first degree in Jewellery Design that my interest in the link between jewellery and emotions was stimulated. I was mulling over how often sentiment is utilised during the process of designing, giving and receiving pieces of jewellery. I had so many questions in my mind and wanted to explore the subject further. I wanted to investigate whether work had previously been designed purposefully towards it inciting more than sentiment and actually towards stimulating emotions, specifically positive emotions and positive well-being.
This initial question led me to researching and exploring this subject for my BA(Hons) dissertation. I became so focused towards this area that following my design degree, I wanted to know more and therefore undertook a PG Cert in Psychology to expand my knowledge of psychological concepts that had the potential to be applied through jewellery.
Moving on another decade, my interest is still strong and I still spend time reading and researching within the fields that link these two disciplines. An interest in not only generic psychology concepts, positive emotions and well-being but also exploring negative emotions and emotional deficit.
As well as applying these ideas through jewellery design, I am also a maker and teacher of jewellery design and manufacture.