Mandy Nash

Designer maker, Mandy Nash, set up her workshop in 1983 (she celebrates 25 years in business this year!) directly after leaving the Royal College of Art.  Her latest collection of jewellery, combining stainless steel with anodised aluminium, has been inspired by her random collection of old fabric: assorted bits of lace, tablecloths, remains of favourite garments, scarves  and aprons, gathered over the years at jumble sales and charity shops, and passed down from her grandmothers. She has chosen to commemorate these snippets of cloth with boundless memories in a range of earrings, brooches and necklaces paying homage to the jewellery of the Victorian age.    She discovered anodised aluminium when studying jewellery and silversmithing at Birmingham Polytechnic and has been working with it ever since; its lightness enables her to make large, bold pieces which are wearable and affordable. Most importantly, by anodising it, she can achieve bright and brilliant colour effects.  Her three passions are colour, pattern and technique. She loves making things and exploring the possibilities of different materials, especially if they involve colour.  Although trained as a jeweller, her work has been  influenced by both traditional and contemporary textiles; she also works in felt making larger pieces that complement her jewellery. Her recent work has evolved from exploring her creative ancestry - how her grandmothers initiated her creative passion by passing on their traditional textile skills.  She finds being creative addictive and considers herself extremely lucky to have survived (more or less!) by selling her own work.