Jade Mellor creates jewellery as wearable mini sculptures to celebrate the raw, imperfect beauty of natural history, geology and archaeology.
Part of the slow craft movement, Jade makes pieces to order, or in limited editions in silver, bronze and recycled gold, along with raw minerals and ethically sourced gemstones. Jade researches in the collections of natural history museums. Her aim is for each piece to evoke the same thrill she enjoys of opening a secret specimen drawer, or a glimpse through a microscope, inviting the wearer to make their own discovery through wearing meaningful jewellery.
Jade creates bespoke pieces in a collaborative process with clients where shared aesthetics and fascinations of the natural world align. Jade also creates one of a kind pieces imagined for a wide range of muses, from Matisse to Mary Anning.
She says, “A continuing theme of my work is strength in nature and how I can evoke these textures andshapes, translated into wearable pieces to feel adorned and protected. My inspirations come from both ends of the scale; from the magnificent rock columns of basalt seen in Iceland to the tiny protective cases made by the caddisfly. Both have a raw imperfect beauty that is enhanced by the contrast of jewellery techniques and materials such as a polished interior or a glinting gem. Personal meaning is also important: the House of Straw ring is inspired by childhood memories of my father showing me layers of a building’s history in wattle and daub as he worked on its restoration.”
