Shark Alley @ Brighton Museum

Waaaaaay back in the summer of 2012, I had a meeting with the buyer for the Brighton Museum and Royal Pavilion shops to see if they would be interested in stocking some of my jewellery.  It was decided that the Museum shop would be the best venue and that I could have a cabinet in there in . . . . . FEBRUARY 2013!

It seemed an age away at that point, but in the way of time, it passed and suddenly the day came to install my stuff.

I'd had an idea for a display based on an amazing Sunday Times shoot I'd seen, which featured a woodland set created entirely from cardboard shapes cut from boxes.  I thought it would suit the recycled nature of my work, but feared it might be a bit 'clunky' and so ended up feeling a bit stuck for alternative ideas.

On a particularly silly night out with friends . . .

. . . my designer friend Lucy came up with an alternative idea  - little white cut-out scenes that the brooches could be fitted into. So the next day, I had a little practice with both the ideas.

I decided to go with Lucy's theme, as it separated out the two types of jewellery more effectively - mixed-media in one place and resin in another.

Then all that was left to do was to install it!

The cabinets are happily near a massive model of the Emile Galle cat that I have based some brooch designs on.

I hated these cats when I first saw them in the museum as a student, but now I love them - they are so charming!  Sadly I couldn't capture their sappy smiles on my brooches - they're just too small.

My jewellery is on show for seven weeks until Sunday 24th March.