Madison Honey Vintage is Kimberley Vernonn’s creative outlet: ‘I create romantic and dreamy, fabulous hand-made limited edition jewellery, using vintage and modern trinkets to create cute little kitsch treasures.’ Named after her baby daughter Madison Honey , Kimberley’s company has been trading since December 2009. Being made redundant gave her the opportunity to transform her lifelong hobby – she has always made jewellery for family and friends – into a business she could develop at the same time as being a full-time mum.

Kimberley loves to scour boot fairs, flea markets and charity shops for beautiful vintage jewellery which she then recycles into her own modern designs, often inspired by the trinkets themselves. ‘I’ve been really into nature inspired pieces recently as I found a vintage necklace with gold plate leaves…’ Ranges popular with her customers are the Skull Cameo Lockets with black satin bows, French charm necklaces and Alice in Wonderland charm bracelets. No two pieces are ever quite the same but Kimberley has a passion for her occupation, and she says every piece is made with love.

There is nothing Kimberley loves more than to be given a commission to source unusual or rare charms – she’s currently on the look out for scissors and other sewing related charms for a fashion designer client – and expects to grow this service when her website is up and running soon. She will also invite prospective customers to contact her with ideas for customised pieces. She confesses to having recently been tempted to keep for herself a one-off bracelet she made especially for a friend using skull cameos and vintage silver charms: ‘I had to control myself…!’

Kimberley’s creations can be found here on The Brighton Collective website.

She sells at some craft fairs as well (including Telscombe Craft and Gift Market on the third Sunday of every month) and dreams of a bricks and mortar shop one day, to go alongside her online business.

Written by Catherine Meek

Ooooh exciting! Do you remember Fimo? I used to love it! Moulding those coloured bits of plasticiny goodness, waiting for it to dry and then varnishing it! I also harbour a secret passion for cake and anything miniature such as dolls houses and dolls furniture… So imagine my excitement when I came across Mini Patisserie who like to make miniature food and turn it into jewellery!

The products include Marshmallow Flump Earrings, Banoffee Pie Necklace and the Jam Sandwich biscuit ring!

Alice runs the Mini Patisserie shop on Etsy and her sister Caroline makes all the miniature goodies. She has been making these sweet (in the cute sense) sweets for a couple of years since her neighbour commissioned her to make some small cakes for her daughter’s dolls for Christmas. Her passion for miniature startedwhen she was a child ‘I used to make small items for my Sylvanian Families and once I made a mini body shop with hundreds of little bottles of shampoo!’.

I asked Caroline how she comes up with her ideas and where she gets her inspiration. She tells me ‘I Google the word cake quite a lot’ and ‘I look in cake shops and take pictures of them when no-one’s looking’!!

Caroline, who is originally from Brighton, has followed her passion and is self taught in the design department. She has a ‘Master of Research’ degree in Genetics!

Her designs are sold via Etsy www.etsy.com/shop/itstimefortea and at the IO Gallery in the North Laines.

You can read the Mini Patisserie blog here http://minipatisserie.blogspot.com/ which details Mini Patisseries love of full size patisseries and they recommend some good Local places to visit for exceptional cakes (the pictures are mouth watering!)

By Helen Ruff

Sarah Meredith has been dedicated to the art and craft of jewellery making since she was 16. After gaining a degree in metal work and jewellery design at Buckinghamshire University College, Meredith went on to work for various jewellery designers before starting her own jewellery business – ‘Rock Cakes’ in 2005.

Rock Cakes is home to an array of unusual and precious pieces. There is something for all ages, with cute silver ice cream cornet sundae pendants in the ‘Tuck Shop’ collection to an opulent black diamond ring in the ‘Grown up’ collection. Rock Cakes is no ‘run of the mill’ jewellers, it is extremely fun, and you are guaranteed to find a piece which is like no other.

My favourite collection is the ‘Proverbial’ collection. Based on everyday sayings, there are ‘In one ear and out the other’ earrings, consisting of two silver arrows, and ‘Every Cloud’ bracelets and necklaces – incredibly cute cloud shapes created from silver, linked together , with the option of diamonds for added sparkle.

With several collections, there really is something for everyone. The collections are fun and varied, with names such as ‘The Garden’ to ‘Brick a Brack’ to ‘Nightmares’! If there is something you are after which is not already listed, Rock Cakes welcomes commissions, and will create a piece of jewellery that really has your own stamp on it.

Meredith takes inspiration from her own surroundings, and can be found wandering around with her camera, looking for ideas that she can translate into jewellery. It is this ability to think outside the box which really makes her pieces stand out.

With a baby on the way (congrats!) Meredith is busy concentrating on Valentines Day, Halloween and Christmas pieces, and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. If you are looking for an engagement or wedding ring for a spouse, a cute necklace for a friend, something with studs and skulls for your kid brother’s birthday, an unusual pendant for yourself, or a sophisticated string of pearls for your Mum, then you can be sure to find just what you are looking for at Rock Cakes.

Hannah Bradbury

Annie McCabe is Daubigny Fusion. Originally trained as a jeweller, she became interested in glasswork and took a short diversion through the wonderful world of stained glass windows, before realising that ‘there are only so many stained glass windows you can make’, and eventually coming to settle at her true metier: glass jewellery.

Annie now works for up to twenty-five minutes on every s tiny bead that makes up her stunning necklaces, bracelets, and earrings – a painstaking effort considering some pieces consist of up to thirty!

Annie’s uses a technique known as lamp work. ‘It used to be a closely guarded secret; in the 13^th, 14^th and 15^th centuries it was shrouded in secrecy and only Venetian merchants knew how to do it’, She tells me. ‘But about ten years ago it became popular in America and the old secrets were rediscovered. That’s how I got to know about it.’

The way the beads are made is almost as captivating as the finished result. Listening to Annie talk about it is absolutely fascinating – her descriptions of molten, dripping and stretching glass make her sound like a confectioner creating mouth-wateringly extravagant candies.

The bead is built up around a thin metal rod called a mandrel, which is turned as molten glass (heated in a white-hot flame of gas and air) is dripped onto it. Globules of other coloured glass and air bubbles are then twisted, stretched, pulled and manipulated until you have a three dimensional, multilayered sphere. As most of the glass is transparent the designs do, quite literally have depth – a sort of insect trapped in amber effect that varies slightly at every angle. The beads range from smooth, with much swirling of colour below the surface, to textured, peppered ever so delicately with minute glass droplets.

Annie creates pieces that can either be show stopping when worn individually, or worn together as sets, as well as offering one off pieces in a fantastic bespoke service where jewellery can be created to match a special outfit or an existing piece of jewellery, making Daubigny Fusion the perfect choice for every occasion!

Look out for Annie’s open house in the Brighton festival.

By Amy Sandiford-Watts

As a result of the recession we’re seeing a much more modest approach to weddings and events and the ‘DIY’ wedding is becoming increasingly popular. i.e. renting a barn and putting together all the elements yourself. What better way to jolly up a barn (or any room for that matter) than to adorn the ceilings and walls with metres and metres of kitsch, colourful bunting! The effect is reminiscent of a post war street party and give a real ‘village fete’ feel.

Sue Maulin runs www.buntingboutique.co.uk and lovingly makes metres and metres of bunting by hand. She offers a delightful mix of colours and patterns, choosing her fabric combinations very carefully and often using vintage fabrics to create the unique overall look.

You can rent the bunting for a special event – every packet of bunting consists of a 3 metre length and each 3 metre length consists of 9 beautiful triangles. The hire price is £7 per packet. Or you can buy the bunting via The Bunting Boutique website.

Sue, who has a background in fashion, also runs www.magpieandme.co.uk – a textile label that produces handmade functional designs such as brooches, purses and bracelets. Sue is strongly influenced by vintage finds and loves to blend old fabric and trims with soft leather to make her accessories.

Each piece is handcrafted with love such as the ‘leather flower bracelet’. The strap of the bracelet is made from embroidered vintage trim. It fastens with a hand made loop made from embroidery silk and a small button. The flower is made from a lovely soft lemon leather and has a mother of pearl button in the centre.

Each bracelet is handmade and comes attached to a card.

by Helen Ruff

I’ve been really interested to find out about Hannah Marshall and her ‘Beachshack Project’. Hannah uses objects found on the beach – sea glass and sea pottery – to create unusual statement jewellery.

The feel of her website and her products is very ‘surfy’ – I feel she’d be more at home in Newquay rather than Brighton where beachlife revolves around pitchers of Pimms at The Gemini!

She tells me her inspiration comes from Ancient Cultures jewellery, as well the more traditional hemp jewellery beloved and made iconic by the surf fraternity.

Jewellery first emerged as a way of expressing what we did and who we were. The oldest known pieces of jewellery date from 100,000 years ago and consist of shells with bored with sharpened flint.

‘My work stems around a central idea of taking objectionable elements and altering them so they then become objects of desire.’ explains Hannah.

She also tells me that although her work is heavily focused on found objects, The Beachshack Project didn’t begin as a recycling project. ‘I use the beach as a platform for gathering new ideas and materials’ she says ‘the pieces design themselves in my head. I never see what I find as rubbish, but just an unfinished part of something else’.

The sea pottery she uses in her work is gorgeous! I’ve never seen anything so beautiful lying around on Shoreham beach!

Fragments of tiles, plates, ornaments, bottles, teapots…. all polished by the sea against the sand (rather like a stone tumbler) smoothing the jagged edges. Apparently high tide after a storm is the best time to beach comb. All the pieces will have been dislodged from the seabed and these beautiful treasures will be left on the sand – like a gift from nature!

‘Flowers, boats, art deco motifs, oriental gardens and makers stamps are all great finds’ says Hannah ‘as is unusually textured pieces’. Hannah is an absolute expert on the subject and tells me you can find sea glass and pottery all around the world – amazing thick mosaic type pieces on the Amalfi Coast in Italy, big shards of rare red sea glass in Thailand, chunky pieces of Turquoise glass in Barcelona and unusual Victorian tea ware pottery in rivers in Suffolk!

There is lots of information on www.beachshackproject.co.uk and it’s really worth a read. It also describes Hannah’s involvement in SAS (surfers against sewage) a UK-based non profit-making organisation campaigning for clean, safe recreational waters, free from sewage effluents, toxic chemicals, marine litter and nuclear waste.

The fruits of Hannah’s labour can be found locally at Bellis (8-9 Kings Rd, Brighton) and Skylark (The Neddlemakers, Lewes).

By Helen Ruff

Ever since Sarah Meredith was young she has enjoyed making things, She made her first
piece of silver jewellery at sixth form and went onto achieve a first class degree in designed metal work and jewellery.

Upon graduating Sarah went to live in London and secured a position with Solange Azagury-Partridge in Notting Hill. She worked there for seven years and had some fantastic opportunities. Solange was then creative director of the prestigious French jewellery house ‘Boucheron’ with Gucci’s Tom Ford at the helm so trips to Paris were frequent. During her time there Sarah also set up a ‘Designer of the year’ exhibition at the Design Museum in London and assisted in designing a limited edition collection for H&M. She worked her way up through the company until she could take it no more and, in February 2008, moved to Brighton for a less stressful life and set up www.rockcakes.com

The ‘Proverbial Collection’ started things off – the ‘in one ear…’ arrow earrings and the ‘every cloud…’ necklace. Then came the ‘Cupcake’ ‘I felt that Rock Cakes needed a cake and I loved the idea of using enamel to achieve the bright colours’ says Sarah ‘this is where the ‘Tuck Shop’ collection began. I wanted my jewellery to be fun but still precious. If you walk into a jewellers most of the jewellery is the same old thing, shop to shop, very safe and very boring’. Having said that Sarah explains she didn’t want to close the door on more sensible jewellery and says: ‘Every girl needs a pair of basic diamond studs and I love pearls so I created the ‘Grown Up’ collection.’ ‘I designed and made a 20ct black diamond ring for a lady last year which was a great project – I didn’t want to hand the ring over!’

Sarah says she’d ideally like to work in 18ct yellow gold but the prices can be crazy. Her ‘Birdbrain’ ring in silver is £120 but works out at £1,200 in gold!

’My inspiration is literally from every day life such as the things we say – like every
cloud has a silver lining - and things I see. The ice creams are quite Brightony and I like birds so there are the little bird pieces’

Sarah’s work is available from the website www.rockcakes.com, at Baroque in the South Laines and she is taking part in her first open house this May. Follow her blog:
http://www.rockcakes.com/blog

By Helen Ruff

Not from Brighton but i had to add this as what a great way of using old metal bottle caps, the collection of bracelets, rings, necklaces and pendants from Yoav Kotik’s ‘Precious Metal’ Collection they are are inspiring, retro, and cool. Let me know what you think in the comments section??

Pop on that Tape Chain necklace and bop back into the eighties with Red Mutha. For all those that don’t enjoy being just one of the crowd, Red, the store’s owner has just what you need. If it’s customized caps with Disney Badges on or even a sweatshirt that reminds everyone that you ‘like to move it move it!’ then get down to her store! The shop itself is quite hard to find, situated just down from the station. This helps it to stay the Brightonian’s dirty little secret. Red herself is quite well know, with her appearance on Wife Swap a few years ago making her somewhat of a home grown celebrity.

Red Mutha has been involved in many events this year. They’ve hosted regular fashion fairs where they’ve sold their own bits and piece as well as giving other local designers a platform to sell. As well as this, they were part of Brighton Fashion weekend this year where they showcased their collection on the catwalk in the Fashion Emporium. Back in December, they had a fantastic stall at the Birmingham NEC Clothes Show Live. This helped them to show off their amazing brand to the rest of England. One of their best events (and for me which makes them so great) is their ‘Kid’s Raves’ where the youngsters dance around and are entertained but at the same time as the parents ; they understand that having fun, be it in Fashion or even with your family, is most important and this event allows you to do so.

The customizing service is the icing on the cake for me. With prices starting from thirty pounds, it’s a great way to revamp your old, tired clothes. Even if you have no ‘old clothes’, the shop stocks loads and loads of funky, eye catching things that will give any out that ‘wazam’. The Tape on the Chain necklace being somewhat of a trademark accessory, offers everyone the chance to step back into ‘Hammer Time’. Or for those girls who want to look oh-so-cute, there is a wide selection of bows to choose from costing around six pounds. All the previous can be bought on the Red Mutha website; however I’d definitely recommend going into the shop where you’ll find quirky dresses, jumpsuits and so much more!

Written by Olivia Lewis.

De.Cou.Page Necklace Photo by Mi from True-North Photography

BangelibangDesign is a new brand created in Brighton by a Scandinavian designer called Lena. She is very happy to present the models of her new collection: De.Cou.Page. The only way for you to imagine what it’s like is to take the necklace and roll it between your hands, so you can read between the lines the story of BangelibangDesign or the story of your life.

Lena considers herself as a storyteller, this is why you shouldn’t be surprised if you ever find a hidden message in one of her creations. Her jewels have a strong visual effect but they have a second quality, they must be touched, only then you will know what it’s like to hold a secret in your hands. The truth is that these jewels are made of “recycled materials…old pearls, glass beads from 1940’s, Bakelite, leather and plastic…semi-precious stones from India dismantled necklaces from fleamarkets, or treasures from the medina in Marrakech”.

Like a magician, she puts all her ingredients on the kitchen table when she gets home and makes a simple stone a diamond. Lena likes to create “something unique, sometimes colorful, sometimes monochrome…but almost always bold and it becomes either a necklace, earring or a bracelet. I want my pieces to become an indie-chic vibe timeless sophistication”. The word is said “sophistication”, these De.Cou.Page models made of simple materials are sophisticated. This successful result is due to an old French technique “that is using pictures, graphics, newspapers…texts…to create your story, your message. It is printed on special paper, then it needs to soak up a bit in the water, a slap of decoupage glue on the back and then the work of layering starts.” After up to several days of drying process, Lena seals the beads with a protective lacquer and there you are, wearing all the secrets of the world around your neck with a smiley face. You are a James bond girl, or even better, a Bangelibang girl!

“In this De.Cou.Page necklace I have used big bold, wooden beads, that has a mixture of decoupage from Perfume labels from the 1930’s and my own graphics” says Lena who also added some cold and warm colors that she likes to mix. Hence gold colored leather strings to create “a look that is not “perfect””.

If you want to hold your own story, don’t wait and back the beads. Join Lena on her blog: www.bangelibangdesign.blogspot.com

There she will tell you why she likes her job:

“People always like a story. It makes them feel at home. Like they belong.

Written by Nadia Bacha