Layers, pattern and a little bit of nail art: Meet the Art Earrings

Where it all started

This collection started with a trip to The Tate Modern last year. It gave me such a thrill - all that layering and pattern, it inspired me for my newest earring creations. They're not like the rest of my range. Usually it's a found object doing the talking - a vintage counter, an old button, something with history already built in. This time it's pattern. Layers and layers of it, built up until something happens where they all overlap. I've been calling them my Art Earrings. Yes, I know, very "arty" way to describe a pair of earrings - but honestly, it's the best word I've got.

I've always loved pattern anyway - go back and look at my old university project work (I did an architectural degree, weirdly) and it's the same thing, over and over: layers, stacked up, each one changing how the last one reads. So when I discovered you could actually print in layers - using this tiny silicone stamper, the kind used for nail art, something just clicked. I've always loved making little things, so nail art was exactly the right scale for me. I'd used nail transfers before and loved how tiny and detailed they were. Tate Modern was just the final push I needed to actually have a go.

Handmade earrings, built layer by layer

Each pair starts life as the lid of a plastic sweet tub - cut into little teardrop shapes that would've gone straight in the bin otherwise. It's not a throwaway item to me. It's raw material. I paint them, then build up the printed layers on top - blacks, corals, silver, with the odd hint of yellow or green sneaking through. Sterling silver studs finish each pair off at the top.

You have to work fast. The second it's mixed, it starts to dry, so there's no time to think. You just have to go for it. That's exactly why no two pairs ever come out the same.

Why no two pairs are ever the same

This first collection is ten pairs - unique jewellery, every single one genuinely one-of-a-kind - each arriving in a little recyclable cardboard gift box. Once they're gone, that's it for this exact set of patterns, though there'll be more collections coming, all just as unrepeatable.

And with sterling silver at the top, they're lovely for a wedding outfit too - or as a gift for someone who'd rather wear a tiny piece of recycled art than something anyone else could own as well.

Shop the Art Earrings collection while there are still pairs left - when they're gone, they're gone.