AngloGold Awards 2007

The theme for the 2007 AngloGold awards in South Africa was kinetic architecture. I really enjoyed designing around this theme and even though my designs didn’t go further than the preliminary judging I felt a huge sense of achievement afterwards.

I used African Nomadic Architecture as my source of inspiration concentrating mainly on the materials they use and the roofs of their huts. Wooden scaffolding and thatch easily being translated into gold in my mind.



I began by playing with garden wire and made a couple of models trying to imitate the thatch covered armature roof tops like those of the east African nomads. I have an eye for small details so it was inevitable my designs would end up being fairly complicated.


I did three designs overall, the neckpiece being my favourite and I piece I know I will one day make. My two other designs were rings, both a bit far-fetched and wacky! The woman’s self-defence ring was entered in the Beyond jewellery category!












The mechanism inspired by a ballpoint pen, which you twist at the top for the nib to come out. A simple twist of the ring attached to the lowest thatch layer would reveal the sharp point through a hole centred at the top of the roof. A punch with this would cause immense damage, but in reality I feel the concept was fairly ridiculous and definitely not very practical! A step out of the box and I enjoyed figuring out the pen mechanism and trying to incorporate it into a piece of jewellery.

I also really enjoyed using watercolour as the medium for rendering. Drawing is something I have always found difficult and envy those lucky people who are naturally talented. I tend to be very heavy handed with my pencil and often have to draw something over and over using tracing paper before I get the perspective right.




I find rendering much easier and have always had a love for colour and texture. The watercolour technique is something we only started in 3rd year, it seemed so daunting at first as paint felt so final and unforgiving of mistakes. I was really happy with my final rendering for the competition and could feel the step forward I was taking with my drawing. I found I could include much finer details with paintbrushes, an aspect which will compliment my style of designing.

"An online student jewellery council"

Its taking me forever to get the ball rolling with starting to blog. Im not sure whats holding me back, most likely the procrastinator inside me and possibly a fear of what others may think. Chris has forced me to sit down and start writing, the first step is always the hardest and I have been staring at a blank screen for the last 10 minutes! Below I have included a paragragh stateing what I aim to achieve in the next 18months and would appreciate any comments and feedback anyone might have.....

In today’s world, the Internet plays a substantial role in the lifestyle of students worldwide. I would like to form an on-line communication network between the jewellery students both on a national and an international level. Initially this would be done by using a "blogging" system, which enables students to communicate, and form acquaintances with people in other learning institutions around the world. I will achieve this using the contacts I have in the U.K. and Holland. It would be hugely educational for students to interact and learn from one another’s experiences and form contacts on an international level. This would be of great benefit in establishing themselves once they have graduated. By creating a “student jewellery council” online, we could include a website gallery where students can advertise and sell jewellery on-line without the mark up of shops and galleries affecting sales.