Jewellery and Objet d'Art

I am a designer-maker.  I graduated from University of Brighton in 1994 with a BA (Hons) in 3D design - specialising in Wood and Plastics.  I make both practical items (salt and pepper mills, bottle stoppers) but have focused much more on creating whimsical one-off pieces – boxes and vessels.

The majority of my work is made from native kiln-dried timbers.  Sycamore is a favourite as it has a pale, even grain to act as a blank canvas for my designs and a wonderful translucent quality that makes the colours glow in a similar way to those of the creatures which inspire my work.

My present work is on display for sale at the following sites:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/lokimonkey
http://www.etsy.com/shop/louisehibbert
Contact: louisehibbert@hotmail.com

Sarah Parker-Eaton

I graduated from the University of Northumbria with a BA (hons) in 3-D Design.  Since then I have exhibited widely and my work is held in both museum and private collections in the UK and abroad.

My art and inspiration:  The distinctive and quirky jewellery I make reflects a joy in exploring natural forms through drawing.  I am particularly fascinated by the textures, shapes and patterns seen in plankton, tiny seeds and microscopic marine flora and fauna.

Each piece of my jewellery has been inspired by sketches made at Kew Gardens, the Natural History Museum or walks in the countryside around my home.  I work in silver and gold, hand fabricating each design using a mixture of techniques such as piercing, carving and forging.  Much of my work is given a dark lustrous finish using oxidisation and small details are highlighted with a polish.

We began our cross-disciplinary collaboration in 2002, having met the year before at Chelsea Crafts Fair in London, an annual event organised by the Crafts Council.  Both of us were struck by the themes, inspiration and interpretation that our work shared.  We found that our working processes were incredibly similar, that we were inspired by the same things, drew out our designs in a similar way and could therefore interpret each others thought and drawings very easily, so a collaboration seemed like an exciting project - to combine our two skills in the different material areas.

I (Louise) first met David Thomas, an Oceanographer, when he was organising the plankton conference in Bangor in 2002.  He was interested in putting on an exhibition of artwork to complement the science.  He also asked me whether I could think of anyone else who made work that might be interest and I recommended Sarah.  I then thought that this might be a great opportunity for Sarah and me to do some collaborative pieces together.  I had just come back from a 2 month woodturning residency in Philadelphia and was inspired by the results of the pieces I had helped create by working with the other artists on the residency.

David invited the two of us to visit the laboratories at the University of Wales at Bangor.  By using modern microscopy we explored the movements, interactions and myriad forms displayed by planktonic organisms.  We then began to design together, sketching and discussing the various elements that appealed and carefully planned each object.

We have made new work based on jellyfish, which was on show for the first time at the del Mano Gallery at SOFA New York.  This work demonstrates an increasing sophistication in terms of the techniques used and our collaborative approach toward design.

We undertook a month long residency in Perth, Western Australia courtesy of the Craftwest Designing Futures program.   While there, we began to design a brand new body of work based on Western Australian seed forms.  This was largely inspired by visits to the seed banks and laboratories of Kings Park and Botanic Gardens.  This seed based project takes the artists in a new and exciting direction. It has resulted in a group of dark, lidded vessels that contain a wealth of colour, detail and movement, revealed only when they are opened.  The work was exhibited at Kew Gardens, London and travelled to then Australia and Japan.

A collection of our joint work may be found in the Gallery and at: