19 January 2013

I’m looking forward to going to Showcase tomorrow to see what’s happening on the local jewellery front for 2013. Top of my list of those to visit is Dorothy Matthews from Corona Silver. Apart from the fact that Dorothy’s jewellery is really different (check it out for yourself at www.coronasilver.ie) she’s a lovely person to deal with, as I discovered when working on this year’s issue of Jewel, l so I’m looking forward to meeting her face to face.

Martina Hamilton is another I’m looking forward to meeting. Martina had a great win at the IJL (London Jewellery Show) in September… So good to see Irish talent being recognized abroad. TJH are on my radar too as I think their John Rocha collection is just to-die-for. One of my favourite of his ranges in recent years is the ‘Lace’ collection TJH launched in 2012. Funnily enough I was thinking of it when looking at UTV’s ‘Mr. Selfridge’ over the weekend. The clothes in that series (which is just a bit of froth, but what else would you be doing on a Sunday night!) are amazing, especially all the lacy garments. But while lace is huge on the fashion front again this year, as it was last year, the item of jewellery I’d most associate with it i.e. the cameo brooch didn’t make any impact. In fact, John Rocha was one of the few jewellers who picked up in the trend at all.

Wonder why cameos haven’t taken off in recent years? Personally I love them…. Although you have to be careful when choosing; some of the silhouettes can be crude, on careful inspection. And let’s face it, you don’t want crude…!

After Showcase I’m off to the Thomas Sabo seasonal launch. That should be good; his jewellery is so edgy and clever. More of that anon…..