A thousand facets sits with Sian Evans, Jewellery designer, goldsmith and lapidarist. We talked about her beginnings in the jewelry industry, her 15 years creating her production line, then change to be a lecturer and Central Saint Martins and going back to her roots in the goldsmiths work to create a more thoughtful, slow collection!
Hope you enjoy our conversation.
About:
Sian’s work is inspired by interests in archaeology, fashion, geology, nature and sustainable technologies with a deep interest in storytelling. Her many jewellery collections over her career have taken some very different forms, stemming from ideas, ethics and heuristics. Some fashion lead, some materials lead and some process lead. Each of her collections in the last decade have been explorations of process in a long term project about sustainable working practices : Learning a jewellery technology, often, an ancient technology with a low carbon footprint, using recycled or found precious materials, then designing and making collections of jewels that incorporate these. This is her modus operandi and an act of reverence for our skilled, ingenious ancestors.
She studied jewellery design, silversmithing and goldsmithing from 1982-86 at The Cass ( City of London Polytechnic - now London Metropolitan University ) In her Summer breaks she worked as a volunteer archaeologist in Dorset. Her first studio was established the year she graduated in 1986, in Spitalfields, London. In the ensuing years she designed and created in this first studio, the biannual collections shown at London, Paris and New York fashion weeks that she became known for. Then from her next larger studio, in Clerkenwell, close to Londons jewellery quarter Hatton Garden, she worked producing collections at the bench alongside her small team of craftspeople. These early collections sold internationally to many stockists and galleries, winning her export and design awards. During this period she was commissioned by designers including Jo Casely-Hayford and Paul Smith, to create lines for them, and by Costume designers for film and TV productions. Her work was regularly seen in the pages of newspapers, glossy magazines and on the ears and necks of TV and film stars.
For 13 years she was Senior Lecturer at BA Jewellery Design, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts. Her research focus: Sustainability and mining , Neolithic and Bronze age technology. Lithics and metalworking
She left UAL at the end of 2014 to return to and pursue her design and creative practice.
Since reestablishing her practice she has won several awards and accolades :
Most notably, her work is in the V & A collection, she has exhibited and sold her work at Sotheby’s. She is a Homo Faber Master Artisan. A Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust ( QEST ) grant in 2022 helped to extend her lapidary study, into the wonderful and ancient arts of Intaglio and Cameo carving . She has won a number of awards from the Goldsmiths Design and Craft Awards in different categories ranging from major design awards to awards for craft skills in lapidary.
For the past few years she has presented her work annually at The Goldsmiths Fair, in 2024 she was selected by The Goldsmiths Fair and QEST to exhibit at Collect .
You can follow Sian Evans on Instagram @sianevansjewellery , visit her website
https://www.sejewellery.com/
Please visit @athousandfacets on Instagram to see some of the work discussed in this episode.
Music by @chris_keys__
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