TRACEY BIRCHWOOD - JEWELLER

I grew up in Manchester before studying and graduating in 3-Dimensional Design from Brighton University. After completing my degree, where I majored in ceramics, I moved back home to the amazing city of Manchester. In 1996 I established my studio at the Manchester Craft & Design Centre in the city’s Northern Quarter. The Craft Centre has been like a second home to me and is still the most amazing place to work in.

My homemade jewellery designs all have a geometric theme, whether it is spots and stripes, or having things evenly spaced. Repetition is always apparent in my work. I thinks the maths ‘A’ level has a lot to answer for! Each petal is hand formed out of porcelain clay. These are then fired and glazed, to have different matt and shiny textures. Each one is then decorated with a special ceramic ‘lustre’ glaze – the gold contains real gold and the silver coloured lustre contains real platinum. These are painted onto the petals to colour the petals or to form intricate patterns including lots of spots and stripes! Once the lustres have been fired onto the petals, the petals are then carefully linked together to form earrings and necklaces. Tiny freshwater pearls are used to embellish the pieces. All the fittings, earrings and chains are made from sterling silver.