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Jewellery with Meaning - Hannah Weston

I am a HUGE lover of contemporary jewellery (some might even say obsessive!) especially when it has meaning behind it, so when I met Hannah and found out she was a maker I knew I would love her work straight away.

Hannah makes jewellery with a big heart! 
Delicate "everyday" designs that are a token of joy, adding that little bit of shine to the rhythms of life, with every single piece in the collections having an intention or story behind it. 
The ethos of her Hannah's business came from that ever striving need to be a thoughtful giver of gifts that are meaningful. Hannah Weston Jewellery is a celebration of the stories that knit our lives together and connect us to our dearest family and friends. Family sits at the core of everything — the Nordic collection names  featured in Hannahs collections are a nod to her brother and his family in Norway.

We've had many conversations about how running your own business has its own highs and lows (being a one man band can be a lonely place at times) but Hannah has gone from strength to strength and the last few years have seen her producing work for two pop up stints in John Lewis, a feature in Tatler magazine, a little spot in Holly Tuckers "fly the flag for small business" campaign (see the video here) and a move from juggling the business with a full time teaching job, to full time, self employed brilliant craftswoman and maker.  

I chatted with Hannah about how she came to be the founder of her own company and the journey she's been on get to where she is now.

"I think my journey was a bit accidental… I never woke up one day and thought ‘oooh, I think I’d like to start a jewellery business’. I started making jewellery as a child – I was born with no fingers on one hand and went through a number of phases of trying to do everything one handed. The first phase was as a toddler, so my Mum would sit down at the dining room table with me and we’d string buttons on shirring elastic and make necklaces. I like being creative – making things with my hands. My Gran taught me to knit and embroider and make my own clothes.

In 2013 my jewellery making got a bit more serious and I started to document my journey on social media – I gained a bit of a following and people started to ask me to make Christmas and Birthday presents. Then when I went back to work part time after having my daughter, my hours would fluctuate each year, giving me a bit more time to invest in my business – and I got to the point where I thought ‘you know what…. let’s give this a go, see if it can be a thing’ – I didn’t want to get to 60 having not tried."

So what's involved in the process? 


"It really varies – some designs come like a flash in my mind. I’m quite good at seeing things in my mind’s eye – so I’ll look at something and see it as a piece of jewellery. Some designs take forever. I don’t really have a set process… I’d love to be one of those people with gorgeous sketchbooks with lots of inspirational pictures and pressed flowers and wonderful scribbles stuck in… but the reality is, more often than not, I see it in my head and then I have a go at ‘building it’ – my sketch book is sparse, but the rejects jar on my desk tells a very different story!!"



Using traditional techniques and the fact each piece is individually handcrafted by you makes your pieces really unique - I wonder how you feel about sustainability in this and how do you try weave it into the business?


"Sustainability is so important – It's something that I've been more aware of since having my daughter I think and I've tried to make sustainability swaps both in my business and in my life in general and I've made loads of good swaps so I use ecosilver in the vast majority of my designs and I send things out in Cardboard boxes that can be recycled rather than plastic jiffy bags but I'm always aware that there's more that I can do there's always more that I can do I'm not perfect at all not even close but it is a theme that runs throughout I think that we need to aim to leave the world in a better place for future generations."


I love the Dette Er Meg collection - has there been anything in particular that’s guided you to make the way you do where do you get your inspiration from?

 

"My inspiration comes from my surroundings a lot of the time. I never really set out to make collections of jewellery, I started making commissions and it sort of grew into having collections. The Dette er Meg collection came from a pendant commission piece with the owners initial on it and after chatting to them further about it, I got thinking about symbols and Nordic Runes. I really loved the idea of wearing a symbol that's actually a trait - without wearing the word. 

My latest collection was inspired by the climbing holds at my local bouldering wall and I think this links back to being able to see joy in my mind’s eye and being able to look at something and see it as a piece of jewellery."


So what’s next on the agenda for you – what are your plans? where can we see your work? 


"So next on the agenda is sort of levelling up my business, I've got a professional photo shoot coming up which is the first time that my jewellery has been photographed by a professional which is really exciting and I'm in the process of redesigning my workshop to suit me as a maker running a jewellery business rather than suiting me as a hobby jeweller. 

You can also find my work in North Yorkshire at The French Press in Thirsk, Plumb in Malton and also on Walter & May’s website."


and finally it's been so lovely chatting with you, do you have any specific other creatives that you really champion and suggest anyone wanting to start out should go check out?


"I always find this question really hard, there's loads of creatives that I really admire. When I find out people are starting their own business or beginning a creative venture there's a couple of people that I point them in the direction of, who I think are really helpful people to learn from.

> The first is Stacey from Grace and Hudson she's a fellow jeweller but is a lawyer turned jewellery business owner and what I love about Stacy is just her take on life, her wisdom and learning from the journey that she's been on. 

> The next person is Amy Eaton she's another lovely lady from America and she's a product photographer, you can learn a tonne of stuff from her about taking your own pictures of your product if you are product based business. 

> and finally of course Holly Tucker is incredible, she is a champion of small businesses and is incredibly generous in her knowledge and understanding."



"If I could give any advice to someone starting out - it would be to go full throttle with what you do and have a relentless belief that it will work!"


See more of Hannah and her beautiful jewellery

via her website www.hannahweston.com

Instagram @hannahwestonjewellery

Photography in Museums & Historic Houses

By Laura Cotterill • 02 May, 2023
To snap or not to snap!

From handy woman to Ceramic Artist - Jenny Chan

08 Jan, 2021
Born in Hong Kong Jenny Chan spent much of her childhood on the small island of Nauru, Micronesia, northeast of Australia but settled in the UK around five and a half years ago. Working with clay, her works are sculptural, primary about faces, making figurative figurines, wall masks and during 2020 she launched a new series of framed small faces wall art. "Not in wildest dreams did I think that I would be in the creative industry. I started my clay journey in 2014 during a very difficult time in my life. I am mostly self-taught from watching hours of YouTube. I found clay gave me focus, peace and fulfilment, the ideal distraction for relieving anxiety away from life difficulties and isolation as a new immigrant in the UK." Without any formal education in arts or ceramics, Jenny believes her love of 3D objects developed tinkering from an early age as the "handy woman" of the house! Without access to a kiln, Jenny then worked as a cleaner in exchange for free kiln firing time within a commercial studio - the Ceramic Studio in Stratford-upon-Avon. After then joining a local artist group, the Leamington Artists Studio, she realised her work was actually being very well received. Grappling with the latest technologies and a changing society after emerging from being a stay at home mum for 16 years was daunting but Jenny's confidence grew not just with her clay skills but within herself as a person during her time at Leamington. As a ceramicist her influencers include works from Rhian Malin , who Jenny observes has made such incredible achievements since 2016 - reaching from a great online presence to having her work heavily featured in many publications. Following a move to the North, Jenny was offered an opportunity in the Craft Council Hot House Programme in 2019 - a Yorkshire Artspace Starter Program which she feels was a pivotal moment for her work that did not centre around her age, ethnicity or educational background. Guiding her work has always been an inner focus on things that are important to Jenny - integrity, honesty and above all a woman trying to find peace and self-worth within. Using traditional hand-building techniques in coiling and slab building, each piece is unique and individually sculpted generally taking a number of days to perfect. No two pieces are the same and are made using mainly porcelain and stoneware clay. Some sculptures are partially press-moulded and individually carved whilst others sculpted from scratch. Any impressions and inlay surface decoration is made using a minimal glaze - coloured slips, oxides and underglazes, emphasising a natural clay texture and colour. Jenny's designs are very much guided by her surroundings of the day, something she may have read or seen on TV. The face mask series based on BBC100 women for example included some modelling on famous people, ie. Amelia Earhart, ‘Grayson Perry’ entwined with imaginary characters. During the March 2020 lockdown Jenny developed a new series ‘Standing Together’ (seen below) for NHS workers, a long-lasting recognition gift for their dedication to the Pandemic. Channelling her focus and anxiety around the Pandemic Jenny was able to make small framed wall art from modelling clay without the use of kiln firing. "If I cannot make work in the studio, I will use a shower plastic curtain on my carpeted floor to make work."

In conversation with marine artist Kate Smith

30 Oct, 2020
I was first introduced to Kate's work at Kunsthuis contemporary gallery in North Yorkshire, forming part of an exhibition "our eARTh" which explored artists responses to the Environment and Climate change. I totally fell in love with her bold colours. Living by the coast has very much influenced Kate's artistic style, being drawn in by the rugged landscapes, extreme weather conditions and the Heritage of a working boat community. I chatted with Kate about her work and how it's progressed in the last couple of years, first up how did she get here? I was always obsessed with drawing and making as a child so I guess it was inevitable that I would follow an artistic route. I trained initially at university as a fine art sculptor and after gaining my degree I went on to study a PGCE in art education. After spending many years teaching art to A-level, I moved to Whitby with my husband and worked for the education department at the North York Moors National Park as an education leader. Having taken time out to have a family I continued to teach with adult Art classes, until in 2016 I decided to pick up a paintbrush for the first time in over 20yrs. Having never previously been a painter and always enjoyed three-dimensional form it took a while to get the hang of canvas and oil paint but at this point I was determined to at least give it a go. Better late than never. I asked Kate about her use of colour as it's one of the things I totally fell for in her work - Kate your paintings are super vibrant and evocative – is there a reason you choose to paint in such vibrant colours? When I first began painting with oils I was using a traditional palette. However I wanted to develop a more contemporary style and my love of colour was probably the first step in my experimentation. The colours that I use in my paintings are only really an exaggeration of the colours that I already see. And I use a lot of photography taken very early in the morning when the light source is at it’s brightest and the colours are at there most extreme. From then on I began to also develop an impasto style of paint application, using a palette knife and sculpting the paint onto the canvas. I guess that this was my homage to my sculpture training. At Kunsthuis and in your earlier work you featured more marine life (lobsters etc), have you made a conscious decision to move away from this to concentrate more on boats and local scenery – or do you think you’ll revisit the marine life again? Yes, initially I did begin with a lot of marine life in my paintings, concentrating specifically on lobsters, as my families love and participation of all things nautical was a big part of our life. However after a while I did make a conscious decision to concentrate on just one style. So I put all efforts into improving and developing what I felt was my stronger work, which was my boat and seascape paintings. One cohesive style is also far easier to share with galleries. With such a rugged landscape to work on do you work outdoors or work mostly from a home studio? How do you stay motivated and what do you find the most difficult in working from home? Currently my studio is situated in my home and I do find it very difficult to stay motivated at times. Right now it’s harder than ever to not be sidetracked by my two teenage children who have been at home (as I’m sure is the case with a lot of families) for the last few months. But what I do feel is important is to treat my studio time as if I was going out to any other job. When I’m painting, I'M PAINTING! Plus when I get into my painting zone I find that a whole day goes by in a flash. What about the process of how you design and make your paintings - do you plan what to make or just go with the moment? So, my paintings process begins with a photograph. I’ve been very fortunate to have a friend that takes beautiful, atmospheric photographs on his early morning walks and he allows me to use them as a reference for my pieces. When a particular scene appeals to me I run with it, so I suppose I do just go with the flow. You mention used to tutor with adult groups – is this something you still do or would consider doing again? Teaching with adult groups is very rewarding and I’d like to think I’ll have the time to return to it one day. But right now I’m happy to concentrate on my painting career. What’s next on the agenda for you – what are your plans? where can we see you? I was recently working on a body of work for an exhibition for Art For Youth North which is an annual exhibition of contemporary Northern artists set in Thirsk. But generally it’s been an unusual year as most of my exhibitions have been cancelled. However now that galleries have reopened I have work on display in Silver Street Gallery, Whitby and have plans to send pieces to a couple of Galleries that I spoke to during lockdown. Do you have any specific artists that you really champion and would suggest any rising artists? There are a number of artists, both painters and sculptors who’s work inspire me. I love the work of Peter Wileman, his use of colour and his energetic mark making. His paintings really capture a sense of place. But I also admire the work of many of my local contemporaries such as, Ian Burke, Ian Burdall, Sue Nichols, Tori Tipton, Emerson Mayes and Richard Gray. Also sculptors and ceramicists like, KV blacksmith, Kit Hemsley, Hilary Holmes, Anna and the willow, Emmeline Butler and Eric and Chris Moss to name but a few. We have such a wonderful and varied array of talented artists here on our own doorstep. and finally do you have any advice to creatives and artists about to embark on starting their own business? My advice to anyone about to embark on a artistic career is firstly don’t make things complicated, make sure you are enjoying what you’re doing. But also take advice from those that have been where you are. Or as I did, apply to a show like art& where they run a Raw Talent Award Scheme offering invaluable support and guidance into exhibiting your work professionally. Theres lots of help and information out there if you’re prepared to look for it. See more of Kate's work or contact her via her website https://www.katesmithart.co.uk/ or follow her on Instagram at @art_katesmith
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