Meet the Maker - Rebecca Burt

This week Rebecca Burt takes us through her educational journey from Textiles to jewellery and silversmithing. The stone choice in her collections reflect this love of textiles as decorative dendrites or colourful layerings resemble woven cloths and embroideries. Rebecca's statement earrings often feature asymmetric pairings in silver and gold with contrasting stones or playful exaggerated proportions that are perfect for parties.

When your jewellery making journey begin?

I originally studied textiles in university at the Manchester School of Art but at lot of my inspiration was jewellery and heavy embroidery/embellishments. By the end of my degree I knew I needed to start learning how to work with precious metals so I enrolled onto a jewellery making evening course back in Cardiff and immediately loved it. A few years later I got a place at Bishopsland Educational Trust, a post gradute jewellery and silversmithing residential course which was hugely helpful and a big catalyst in launching my business. 

Who inspires you the most? (No rules here, other jewellers, artists or even family & friends)

I am definitely inspired from multiple different disciplines, I love the mark making and expression in Cy Twoblys paintings, I love Claire Curneens figurative ceramics with thorns and fingers dipped in gold. I also recently came across Kate MccGwires sculptures after hearing her on Material Matters with Grant Gibson podcast who creates these amazing sculptures out of feathers that have a beautiful eerie flow to them. 

Where did you find inspiration for the earrings in the exhibition, tell us a little bit about each one if you can?

I am really inspired by movement, growth and flow. This is a running theme through out a lot of jewellery, using textures and building surfaces to create a flow to the piece without there necessarily being lots of physical movement. The texture in my Flux collection is inspired by water and by building up the texture or adding a colour gradient to it, it nods to water in different flows.

My Flux Purl earrings are inspired by the water in a really shallow stream when the water is just purling over the stream bed, I have then put an asymmetric pair of dendritic agates with them. I love mixing in a bit of asymmetry.

Please can you tell us a little bit about your creative process?

I like to have my bench full of stuff that I can play around with as I’m making, putting new combinations together and seeing things from a different perspective. I usually start with some scribbly sketches and lots of stones spread out so I can think about what looks best where, then start to build up the piece. 

Sounds of the Studio - what are you listening to? We’d love to hear about podcasts recommendations/ studio playlists/ the sounds that motivate you?

I mainly work alone (except for my dog), so I find podcasts really useful to keep my mind busy. Recently a lot of crime and investigative podcasts, I also love the Miss Me podcast with Miquita Oliver and Lilly Allen. Then either some khruangbin for designing or Sparks for motivation. 

What’s next for you and your brand?

I do lots of wedding and engagement rings for commissions but I would like to spend a bit more time working on my stock collections of these, so I can have a play with the designs and have more pieces in stock to show customers and galleries. I also have lots of craft fairs coming up this year, so lots to make for them. 

Which is your favourite piece you’ve ever made?

I made a pair of statement asymmetric Flux earrings that sold earlier this year, where the pair of dendritic agate stones I found for them were just perfect. The stones were the same shape and a similar pattern but one had golden dendrites and the other black, so they were ideal for mixing the golden one with an oxidised silver stud and the black one with a gold plated stud. I also made them so you could detach the stone if you wanted too just wear them as a pair of studs.

I have also been enjoying the Flux asymmetric earrings with the asymmetric mother of pearl and haematite drop which are part of the Summer Statements exhibition. Got my eye on making myself a pair soon. 

Finally, for fun, what would be your absolute dream piece to make?

I feel like a crown would be really fun to make. I love the crowns they wear in the film The Green Knight, where they’ve used metal to create a sort of halo at the back, so some sort of contemporary crown would be great fun.

Rebecca's Collection is available to view and purchase as part of our Summer Statements Exhibition. Featuring over fifty unique statement earrings, blending artistic flair with innovative design.

Showcasing the talented works of: Deco Echo, Gill Galloway-Whitehead Isobel Sullivan, Loveness Lee, Rebecca Burt, Ruth Leslie, Sarah Straussberg and Scarlett Cohen French.