Sarah Pulvertaft

Interview with Sarah Pulvertaft

- Can you tell us a little bit about yourself as a jewellery designer/maker and your brand?

S: I’ve had my own workshop since 1995 and for the majority of that time have worked in London’s creative heartland, Clerkenwell. I now have a workshop on the edge of a beautiful forest in the Oxfordshire countryside.

My work and working processes have evolved over the years. I began at the fashion end of the spectrum, designing two collections of jewellery a year and exhibiting at London Fashion Week and exporting to the US and Japan. I now work also at the other end of the spectrum creating pieces that are exploratory and evolve more gradually.

I’ve completed many private commissions, such as a commission for a charm bracelet for Harry Potter author JK Rowling which she has been regularly photographed wearing. Business entrepreneur Deborah Meaden is sporting a ring from my recent Seeds Collection in the current BBC series of Dragons’ Den, which she bought from one of my London stockists Gill Wing Jewellery.

- What actually made you get into jewellery designing?

S: I have always wanted to be a designer and when I was introduced to the practical aspects of making jewellery on the first year of my Art degree course I was hooked.

- How would you describe your style?

S: I use traditional jewellery-making techniques to create contemporary jewellery, which is paradoxically decorative and minimal.

- What were your initial concepts for your latest collection?

S: I wanted to try and express something about the natural worlds’ complexity in abstract form.

- What/who would you say is your strongest source of inspiration?

S: I draw inspiration from many sources, including the visual art-world.

I’ve recently been looking a lot at Japanese woodblock images, loving their economy of line and freshness of colour.

- What is the most important facet to pay attention to in your jewellery?

S: Repetition of forms, often with a kinetic element. I find these things really pleasing.

- Do you have any favourite materials and special techniques you enjoy using?

S: I love working in metal and using simple techniques in such a way as to build something complex. It is this contrast which interests me.

- What are your opinions on the current European jewellery/fashion scenes?

S: I think it’s incredibly diverse and I enjoy looking at work from both ends of the technological spectrum; those using cutting edge technology and those using and sometimes subverting traditional techniques.

- What are your plans and goals for the near and distant future?

S: I want to make ever more technically challenging work. Recently I have been exploring the effect of changing scale in my finished works, such as making large discs filled with a myriad of small moving cubes.

- Do you have some words of wisdom for any young designers and our readers?

S: Keep moving forward. I would say that it’s never too late to start doing something that you want to do and that you must be fearless in the pursuit of your dreams.

Written by Nashrin Azad