JESSELINA

So – how did Jesselina start?

Well, way back, I did a degree in Jewellery and Silversmithing, followed by an Art Teacher’s Certificate. While I was studying for my post-graduate teaching qualification, I learnt the art of making paper beads (very fiddly and time-consuming – but oddly satisfying!). Being an impoverished student, I was unable to afford Silver or Gold to work with, so I began to make beaded jewellery (mainly out of the wrappers of a well known chocolate product!) out of these paper beads which I sold at exhibitions and shows. After my post-grad, I got side-tracked into a career in publishing, but I did keep making jewellery and selling it on and off at various events.

At the end of 2004, I finally decided to go back to my roots and go for the jewellery full-time, so I set up Gillian Rice Jewellery, and in 2005 I began selling to small galleries around the country. The designs are made mostly in silver, and are mainly approached from an ‘intellectual’ angle, much as I did when I was working towards my degree. I like the processes involved in working with metal – and I find the ‘problem-solving’ required when working out how to make a piece really engrossing.

Then, I began to discover the wonderful colours and properties of semi-precious gemstones, which led to a whole different way of designing, and seems to satisfy a completely different part of my ‘creative make-up’! I get quite excited about the colours and shapes of gemstones and they seem to spark something off in me – I don’t know whether or not some of the properties they’re supposed to have are at work, but I find myself curiously drawn to different ones at different times. Anyway, as I got more and more enquiries for these designs, I decided to give this branch of my business its own identity.