Jewellery making course: wearing our stories with pride
From January to February this year we had the pleasure of hosting a jewellery making course with acclaimed designer and artist Anisha Parmar.
Anisha lead 12 º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ students through the process of creating their own piece of jewellery inspired by a family heirloom or piece of family history. The course entailed learning how to visually conceptualise and design a piece beginning with mood boards, followed by basic jewellery making skills (with a focus on laser cut jewellery components) and assemblage.
The course ended with the creation of finished pieces and an incredible photo session which is presented below.
Gallery
A'ishah
Amina
Bella
Debra
Marit
Molly
Princess
Anon
The workshops with Anisha were a perfect opportunity to talk to my grandmother about her family's jewellery and learn more about my family history. The earrings I made are inspired by several of my grandmother's pieces and her favourite decade, the 60's. My favourite image from the photoshoot has my earrings on top of a picture of my grandparents on their wedding day. I'm very close to them and having this piece of jewellery inspired by these conversations with my grandmother is amazing!
Inspired by an evil eye bracelet gifted to me as a child I wanted to create a piece inspired by my dual English and Greek heritage and the idea of protective/lucky jewellery. I brought the use of golden tones and the evil eye motif from my original inspiration and combined that with yellow and green elements inspired by the colours of emerald and topaz both of which symbolise luck as well as a snake, traditionally considered as lucky in Ancient Greece, which appears here in the shape of a horseshoe, an English symbol of luck.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Anisha Parmar
Anisha Parmar is a globally successful jewellery designer and multi-disciplinary artist based in Derby. Her work is inspired by her own diaspora heritage that spans three continents – Gujarat in India, East Africa and Britain – and the gold jewellery pieces that have been collected along her family’s migrant journey. Anisha’s own designs bring the concept of the heirloom into today. At the heart of her brand is her belief in the power of wearing our culture and stories in a way that will uplift and empower – empowered adornment.