International Jewellery London has unveiled the names of this year’s 10 most promising, emerging designers selected to be part of the IJL KickStart 2016 initiative.
The KickStarters will all benefit from exhibiting as a group at this year’s show and will receive invaluable marketing and industry support from both IJL and partner, The National Association of Jewellers. Now in its eighth year and with a roll call of seventy previous winners, many of whom are now familiar names within the industry, this annual mentoring programme is recognised as one of the most supportive programmes for new innovative talent.
IJL Show Director, Sam Willoughby comments on the IJL 2016 line up: “Visitors to the show always make a bee line for the KickStarter stand because it is a one-stop showcase for the best in on-trend, innovative design. Our KickStarters this year will not disappoint – they are a really exciting group of designers and they all deserve to benefit from this unique commercial launch pad.
“What is particularly rewarding this year is to see yet another two Bright Young Gem designers become KickStarters and progress their IJL Journey*. Our aim is to provide the ideal environment to support and nurture the best design talent, helping them grow from a fledgling business to a potential global designer brand.”
The industry will be invited to vote for the ‘People’s Choice’ – the KickStarter who they feel is the one to watch. All the KickStarters will also be encouraged to campaign for votes. The prize is a free stand in the Design Gallery at IJL 2017. Voting begins May 31 and closes June 30.
The 2016 KickStart line-up revealed:
Joanna Bury
Previously an IJL Bright Young Gem in 2014, Bury specialises in contemporary ‘statement’ jewellery pieces formed in materials such as sand-blasted glass-like acrylic and precious metals. Her distinct design style clearly links back to her training and previous career as a lingerie designer. She creates lace like textures and uses the body as a blank canvas; sometimes the body is used to form the jewellery designs and sometimes the body is used to contradict the form. Bury combines traditional techniques with digital methods in a unique and original aesthetic – adorning the body with pattern as a form of removable tattoo, worn to adorn yet easily removed.
Emma Calvert
Calvert trained at Central St. Martins in Woven Textiles, where she explored three-dimensional form through weaving, folding and knotting. These evolved into her signature textile jewellery in which she creates solid geometric forms entirely by hand, integrating colour and texture into sculptural jewellery. Drawing inspiration from architecture, fashion and history, the collection has received considerable recognition and Emma was awarded Cockpit Arts Clothworker’s Foundation Award 2015 and 2014, Best Newcomer MADE London 2013 and was selected for the Crafts Council Hothouse 2013. Calvert’s new series ‘Memento’ connects the wearer to a place – retaining memories through jewellery. Launching at IJL, the first collection reimagines the bright graffiti and 1970’s architecture of Bologna, telling the story of the city’s overlooked beauty.
Sammie Jo Coxon
Coxon is a Central Saint Martins graduate in Jewellery Design and a Gemmologist. She has worked for the likes of Stella McCartney, Matthew Williamson and Katie Hillier. She shows under the name SCJ London and all her pieces are made in London’s Hatton Garden. A farmer’s daughter, Coxon named her collection Demeter, after the Goddess of the Harvest. Demeter’s aesthetic is rich in graceful, geometric forms that give a sense of strength to the wearer. All designed to make pearl jewellery more stylish, sleek and sexy for the style-savvy woman of today. Every piece is finished with a knife edge finish, as a signature feature, and adds a clean and contemporary look to the collection. Customers can choose their own colour combinations to exploit their own individuality throughout the collection. Sammie Jo will be debuting her second fine collection as a KickStarter – a sophisticated explosion of colour in 18 karat gold and an exciting array of new gem stones.
Cécile Gilbert
Inspired by the Art Deco movement and especially the Bakelite jewellery of the 1920s to 1950s, Gilbert has created a range of contemporary jewellery with added 21st century sophistication. Working primarily with polyester resin, which she combines with oxidised sterling silver, Gilbert has developed innovative cut out and recasting techniques which allow her to play with geometric shapes and patterns. Her Tiki collection features chunky bangles, elegant bracelets, bold necklaces and eye catching earrings. All jewels are cast in strong colours and finished to a lustrous shine. Gilbert currently works within a tight palette of cherry red, olive green and teal blue – mixing her own pigments to get the exact hue and shade.
Vicky Lew,
Lew is a native of Kuala Lumpur and graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2014 with a First Class Honours in jewellery design. Experience with industry giants Cartier and Swarovski have honed Lew’s skills, enabling her to grow and develop as a designer. Her début collection Flight captures the drama and majesty of the transient moment of birds in flight in pieces of fine jewellery. Employing a traditional pavé-setting method, the instantaneous moment of take-off is alluded to through the use of perspective-localized angles, whereby the birds are only revealed to the audience from certain angles. As a result, a fleeting moment is afforded to the audience, giving the gem-set birds movement as the wearer moves. The aim of Flight is to inspire a sense of curiosity amongst its audience, inviting them to take a second look not only at a beautiful piece of jewellery, but also the chance to witness a second glimpse of the concealed bird.
Lucas Mitchell
Mitchell is a jewellery designer, born in Chichester, who at 17 was offered an opportunity to work for established family jewellers set up in 1909. This led to Mitchell to fall in love with jewellery and go on to learn and understand the techniques needed to create exciting collections. His passion for jewellery has continued to grow ever since. His debut collection under his Lucas Alexander label is ‘Colours’, a demonstration of his innovative and playful style. The array of colourful stacking bangles and rings were designed to create a fun and excitingly atmospheric experience which enable everyone to express their own personality through their jewellery.
Charlotte Scott Moncrieff
In conceiving her unique pieces, Moncrieff draws on her background spent living in the singular beauty of northern Denmark. This imbues her pieces with a clear Scandinavian aesthetic. Her collection, CF Concept, is characterised by effortless clean lines and striking silhouettes typical of Danish design, an ethos and discipline which she includes in her jewellery. There is an emphasis on wearability, timeless elegance and luxury combined with edgy and sleek shapes – constantly challenging conventional choices of materials and exploring new creative possibilities. Such as the use of solid gold and diamonds as a defining feature of the new Serac collection. This brings the majestic iceberg of Greenland to life, with solid gold paying tribute to the grandeur of these natural beauties and diamonds reflecting their brilliance and tenacity.
Marina Skia
Skia is a Greek jeweller who designs and creates elegant fashion jewellery in brass and silver. She draws on the beauty of the natural world and, in particular, on forms and shapes encountered in nature. The sea and the motion of water is one of her strongest sources of inspiration and a theme that provides an everlasting fascination. Her work is graphic and characterized by bold geometry, clean lines, and an emphasis on detail. In her pieces Marina combines traditional hand making skills she was taught while training as a jeweller in Greece, with contemporary technologies she was introduced to while studying Jewellery design in London.
Emily Richardson
Richardson studied jewellery design at Central St Martins, followed by designing in the industry for a variety of established brands before launching her own collection, Emily Richardson Jewellery. She was selected as an IJL Bright Young Gem in 2008 and has recently been featured In British Vogue. This British brand showcases unique modern designs with an effortless sense of style. Richardson draws her inspiration from dramatic icons, fantastical film, literature and the arts, with her pieces blending creative expression with wearable design, seeking to evoke a personal connection with the jewellery’s beauty and narrative. The Dali collection is 18K gold fine jewellery set with an array of precious stones and is inspired by the iconic artist Salvador Dali – whose surrealist paintings placed emphasis on dreams – who said: ‘Give me two hours a day of activity, and I’ll take the other twenty-two in dreams.’
Jonna Jarvenpaa and Laura Vilppula
Together Jarvenpaa and Vilppula create the collection Addalit – limited edition, semi bespoke fine jewellery pieces which can be personalised by the client. All the pieces are handmade in London. Jarvenpaa, a former model, studied shoe design in Finland before studying jewellery at Central St Martins and fashion marketing at The London College of Fashion. The Addalit designs reflect her Nordic Heritage, especially Scandinavian simplicity, elegance and modernity. Vilppula studied at the Gemmological Institute of America where she developed an exceptional knowledge of diamonds and precious stones. She travels the world to handpick stones of the highest quality. Addalit plans to unveil its flagship piece at IJL 2016 – an 18ct gold ring featuring a 1.5ct internally flawless fancy light yellow diamond. This piece was inspired by the Nordic four seasons, of Winter turning into Spring.