Born in London, Jo Pond discovered jewellery during her formative years at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Berkshire. After gaining her BA and then later an MA in Jewellery, Silversmithing & Related Products, Jo progressed to become a senior lecturer at the School of Jewellery in Birmingham, where she taught for fourteen years. She now works full-time from her home in Derbyshire as a studio jeweller.
Jo says, “I come from a family of ‘Ponds’ who appear to have a genetic necessity for hoarding; digging up metal detector finds was the foundation of a passion for objects which others might not quite appreciate. This fashioned the beginnings of a lifetime of habitual collecting. Using this drive to accumulate the unconventional and unwanted, coupled with an aesthetic appreciation of the details of decomposition and change, I choose to incorporate items potentially paradoxical within jewellery, to create beautiful and on occasion, confusing objects. Employing symbolic references of form, material and technique, I dabble in the potential for wearable items to become vehicles for communication; whether through sense, nostalgia, or knowledge.”
Jo’s Narrative Jewellery Collection was the winner of the 2005 BDI Industry & Genius Awards in the category of Products and Genius. Her work has been exhibited internationally, showcased at selected exhibitions such as Schmuck in Munich, the V&A Museum London, Price Tower Arts Centre Oklahoma, Galerie Rob Koudijs Amsterdam, Velvet da Vinci San Francisco and Contemporary Applied Arts in London.
