Craft Gallery Jeweller Of The Month : Jess Withington

The Ropewalk Craft Gallery is an ever changing display of the best in contemporary craft. Representing over 200 makers from throughout the country and beyond, it features an extensive collection of ceramics, glassware, textiles, jewellery and more.

Jeweller Of The Month

Rachel Butlin

Rachel seeks to challenge the concepts of contemporary jewellery, producing a range of high end , mixed material pieces. She loves to challenge the way in which people perceive a piece, by creating small scale sculpture that can be worn on the body, in a way chosen by the wearer. Carefully considering material combination and placement, her work often explores bespoke materials, evoking curiosity between the piece and the wearer themselves. She gathers materials in a collection, waiting to explore them through combination and placement, in a 3D drawing process. Drawing with materials is an essential part of her practice, with linear forms, featuring strongly alongside geometric shapes and spaces. These ideas and themes are explored through bold strikes of colour and simple lines, bought together to create statement brooches, earrings and necklaces. Pieces are created using Enamel, Formica, Walnut and Acrylic. By stacking, layering and placing components together, she finds different ways of constructing pieces using traditional jewellery techniques such as setting and riveting. This process allows her to explore and explode original thoughts, creating new ideas from one original starting point.