Made in Scotland: Iona Hall Jewellery
We got in touch with Iona Hall to talk about her gorgeous Jewellery designs this week for our ongoing Made in Scotland Blog series. We have enjoyed running this blog, alongside J Boult Designs, as a way of highlighting some of our favourite makers and designers from around Scotland. We fell in love with Iona Hall Jewellery and are so excited to share this blog with you.
Can you tell us how your business got started?
When I was 17 I left school and moved to Glasgow to study jewellery at college and haven’t stopped ever since. I did a degree at Glasgow School of Art and a postgrad at Bisopsland, focusing more on my silversmithing than my jewellery towards the end of my studying. I have a passion for designing new work that it seemed the natural choice for me after uni to start my own business (rather than work for someone else).
Where do you look for inspiration when you are designing new products?
I am drawn to movement, lines and irregular patterns in natural forms from the beaches near my home in Scotland. Sporadic placements of barnacles, the movement and clusters of seaweed clinging to the rocks, the natural placement of stones in the sand; organic shapes next to angular lines, rigid corners and grid structures. I collect objects from the beach and study them, isolating an element from the object and adding it to the objects I make.
One Strand Machair Earrings
Can you tell us a bit more about how you make your products?
I translate elements of my research into my work from photographs, drawings and videos taken from the beaches. I use techniques such as fusion, chasing and repousse, scoring and folding, with the additional use of stone setting to bring a hint of colour. I have an ever growing amount of tools I use when shaping and texturising the metal. The jewellery is an abstraction of my larger work, isolating and developing elements from the boxes into a wearable object.
Channels
What are your most popular products and which are your own favourites?
Personally my favourite piece I have made is ‘The Echo box’. It is my most recent piece that I am proud of. ‘Channels’ Salt and Pepper shakers receive the most attraction and I am in the middle of making another pair, with different surface design.
The most popular product is the One Strand Machair Earrings, which are part of a larger collection called the ‘Machair Collection’.
The Echo box
If you had to pick one place in Scotland to recommend that people visit, where would it be?
Sculptors cave in Moray. This is a hidden cave on the shoreline near my home. You need to climb down a rope ladder to get to the beach it’s on, climbing over really cool rocks until you arrive at the cave.
Sculptors Cave
You can find Iona’s designs on Iona Hall Jewellery here and on Instagram.
We would also like to continue the chain by asking you to promote another small business with a similar blog or suggesting one to us, maybe someone slightly off the beaten track?
Here are a few suggestions, Katie Watson a wonderful silversmith and Lyndsay Fairly who makes beautiful jewellery both based in Edinburgh. You can find their work here – https://www.instagram.com/katiewatsondesigns/ https://www.instagram.com/lyndsay_fairley/
My mum, Alison Johnston is a painter, you can find her work here- https://www.instagram.com/alisonjohnstonartwork/
Duke Christie, is a local furniture maker and wood worker based in the North East of Scotland. His work employes innovative techniques and ideas, inspired by the landscape and Scottish coast. You can find his work on his website www.dukechristie.com/ or here https://www.instagram.com/dukechristie7/
Finally, Michaela McManus, for painting and printmaking, an artist based in Glasgow. You can buy her prints on her website and explore her work and performances here – https://www.instagram.com/michaelam.art/