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jewellery

Stories


jewellery

Names Jewellery

Names Jewellery

  Posted by Clare Grennan in: Irish jewellery, jewellery, names jewellery

Frequent visitors to our website may have noticed the stunning new photography on our jewellery pages online. We are slowly updating all our jewellery photography with new product shots to come in the Spring along with new additions to our collection. You can also find customer favourites; Naneen, Margaret and Peggy now  available in 9ct gold. 

Photographer: Seán Jackson 
Art Director: Keelin Coyle
Names Jewellery

Names Jewellery

  Posted by Clare Grennan in: Irish jewellery, jewellery, names jewellery

Frequent visitors to our website may have noticed the stunning new photography on our jewellery pages online. We are slowly updating all our jewellery photography with new product shots to come in the Spring along with new additions to our collection. You can also find customer favourites; Naneen, Margaret and Peggy now  available in 9ct gold. 

Photographer: Seán Jackson 
Art Director: Keelin Coyle
Laura Caffrey - Names Dublin

Laura Caffrey - Names Dublin

  Posted by Clare Grennan in: Drury Street, Dublin, Dublin workshop, Irish design shop

  • What do you make?

I make jewellery. For the past two years, along with my partner in crime Clare, I have been producing a range of jewellery, Names, that we believe reflects both of our skills and personalities in equal measures. We have designed two collections so far, with another micro collection in the pipelines at the moment.

  • Could you tell us a little bit about your studio? Favourite thing about the space and how do you get into the mindset of making?

Our studio is just above Irish Design Shop, so we share our time between the shop and the studio. Sometimes it can be difficult to change over from shop mindset to studio mindset, tidying up the workbench is always a good starting point, and we always have a to-do list on the go to refer to. It’s a great space with really good light and a great view of all of the comings and goings on a bustling Drury Street. We share the space with six other jewellers so there’s always someone around to chat to.

  • What is your favourite tool and why?

I have quite a few favourite go-to tools, one file that I prefer to all of the others, a nice new calipers that’s great for measuring and marking, but my mini rawhide mallet is probably my favourite. It’s made of rolled up animal hide, so you can use it to shape metal without marking it like you would with a metal hammer, but this one has a little weight inside it, so it gives an extra bit of power behind it, it’s small but mighty!

  • Can you describe the making process and inspiration behind your Muriel bangle?

The Muriel bangle is one of my favourite pieces from our second collection ‘Homespun’. It kind of brings together a lot of the ideas in the two collections. The combination of the solid and hollow forms sit really nicely side by side or apart, and move freely around the solid round bangle.

The two moving components were originally formed in wax on the lathe and then cast in solid silver, the casts are cleaned up before being threaded onto the round wire which has been shaped into a round bangle. The bangle is then soldered closed and the whole piece sanded and polished to show off our trademark contrasting matte and polished finishes. The work is all very hands on and the designs are heavily influenced by traditional jewellery skills, used in a way to produce modern, contemporary shapes.

  • What led you to choosing this craft as a profession? What do you love most about it?

I started in art college full sure that I would be studying either painting or possibly textiles. In first year we had to try out a few courses and for some reason, I tried out metalwork, that one week trial totally changed my mind. I was fascinated by the things you could do with metal, how something so solid can be so malleable. I love that with metal, most things are repairable. With ceramics and glass, if it breaks you cannot really fix it, with metal you can almost always fix whatever goes wrong.

For a better look at Laura and Clare's stunning jewellery collection "Names" you can shop or simply have a browse here.

Laura Caffrey - Names Dublin

Laura Caffrey - Names Dublin

  Posted by Clare Grennan in: Drury Street, Dublin, Dublin workshop, Irish design shop

  • What do you make?

I make jewellery. For the past two years, along with my partner in crime Clare, I have been producing a range of jewellery, Names, that we believe reflects both of our skills and personalities in equal measures. We have designed two collections so far, with another micro collection in the pipelines at the moment.

  • Could you tell us a little bit about your studio? Favourite thing about the space and how do you get into the mindset of making?

Our studio is just above Irish Design Shop, so we share our time between the shop and the studio. Sometimes it can be difficult to change over from shop mindset to studio mindset, tidying up the workbench is always a good starting point, and we always have a to-do list on the go to refer to. It’s a great space with really good light and a great view of all of the comings and goings on a bustling Drury Street. We share the space with six other jewellers so there’s always someone around to chat to.

  • What is your favourite tool and why?

I have quite a few favourite go-to tools, one file that I prefer to all of the others, a nice new calipers that’s great for measuring and marking, but my mini rawhide mallet is probably my favourite. It’s made of rolled up animal hide, so you can use it to shape metal without marking it like you would with a metal hammer, but this one has a little weight inside it, so it gives an extra bit of power behind it, it’s small but mighty!

  • Can you describe the making process and inspiration behind your Muriel bangle?

The Muriel bangle is one of my favourite pieces from our second collection ‘Homespun’. It kind of brings together a lot of the ideas in the two collections. The combination of the solid and hollow forms sit really nicely side by side or apart, and move freely around the solid round bangle.

The two moving components were originally formed in wax on the lathe and then cast in solid silver, the casts are cleaned up before being threaded onto the round wire which has been shaped into a round bangle. The bangle is then soldered closed and the whole piece sanded and polished to show off our trademark contrasting matte and polished finishes. The work is all very hands on and the designs are heavily influenced by traditional jewellery skills, used in a way to produce modern, contemporary shapes.

  • What led you to choosing this craft as a profession? What do you love most about it?

I started in art college full sure that I would be studying either painting or possibly textiles. In first year we had to try out a few courses and for some reason, I tried out metalwork, that one week trial totally changed my mind. I was fascinated by the things you could do with metal, how something so solid can be so malleable. I love that with metal, most things are repairable. With ceramics and glass, if it breaks you cannot really fix it, with metal you can almost always fix whatever goes wrong.

For a better look at Laura and Clare's stunning jewellery collection "Names" you can shop or simply have a browse here.

Names Jewellery - Made in Dublin

Names Jewellery - Made in Dublin

  Posted by Clare Grennan in: design, grandmother, handmade, Irish Design

Myself and Laura have shared a jewellery studio pretty much since graduating from NCAD way back when. Our styles have always been incredibly different, but in the past year we noticed similarities appearing, be it shapes we were interested in, scale and making techniques. So the idea to work collaboratively just sort of happened early this year. Working from our Drury street studio (above the shop), we spent months brainstorming and prototyping ideas, our aim being to produce an affordable, yet very special range of jewellery which incorporated traditional jewellery making skills. The result is our inaugural 16 piece collection under the label Names. All items are hand formed in brass and plated in hard wearing 18ct rose or yellow gold. 

As this is a very personal project, a labour of love, we have named every piece in the collection after a woman in each of our families, from our mothers to our great grand mothers. A short profile on each of these women is included on the new website. All items are available to purchase online and direct form our Drury street shop. 

Photographer: Al Higgins    Model: Áine Tubridy 

Names Jewellery - Made in Dublin

Names Jewellery - Made in Dublin

  Posted by Clare Grennan in: design, grandmother, handmade, Irish Design

Myself and Laura have shared a jewellery studio pretty much since graduating from NCAD way back when. Our styles have always been incredibly different, but in the past year we noticed similarities appearing, be it shapes we were interested in, scale and making techniques. So the idea to work collaboratively just sort of happened early this year. Working from our Drury street studio (above the shop), we spent months brainstorming and prototyping ideas, our aim being to produce an affordable, yet very special range of jewellery which incorporated traditional jewellery making skills. The result is our inaugural 16 piece collection under the label Names. All items are hand formed in brass and plated in hard wearing 18ct rose or yellow gold. 

As this is a very personal project, a labour of love, we have named every piece in the collection after a woman in each of our families, from our mothers to our great grand mothers. A short profile on each of these women is included on the new website. All items are available to purchase online and direct form our Drury street shop. 

Photographer: Al Higgins    Model: Áine Tubridy