As soon as Toast’s newsletter hit my inbox and I saw the work of London-based jewellery designer Kerry Seaton, I knew I had to write a blog post about her delicate nature-inspired pieces.
Making, she says, allows her to feel at one with her environment. Her home away from home is a small studio in the relatively new The Goldsmiths’ Centre, which I reviewed for Blueprint magazine when it first opened in 2012. It was designed by Lyall, Bills & Young and provides post-graduate education, business start-up studio space and support for young jewellery designers close to Hatton Gardens in Clerkenwell.
Seaton says of her design philosophy: “An emphasis on shape is integral to my approach, I am committed to quality of craftsmanship and am sensitive to the precious metals in which I work; I aim to create jewellery with longevity: to be worn in rather than worn out. Concentrating on timeless quality and a sense of stillness”.
The pieces she has designed for Toast are inspired from time spent researching and sketching in the botanical seed department at London’s Kew Gardens. Many of the shapes and forms are developed from seeds found in the Amazon, as well as some closer to home.
Seaton uses one of the oldest known metalworking processes, forging, to adjust the shape and profile of the metal. For example, one bangle in the collection, called ‘Forged: Refined’ was created by hammering the cross section to taper both ends and then smoothing it into shape.
Other pieces are an experiment with collected shell beads and gold/oxidised silver tube. Kerry wanted to see how much support something so small could offer something of a different scale; the tiny white bead against the rigid tubing.
I’m a big fan of her natural, organic shapes, which are perfect companions to Toast’s laid-back clothes.
