An Okehampton jeweller has recently been offered a place at the prestigious Goldsmiths' Fair in London for the third year in a row.
Corrinne Eira Evans, who runs the Moon and Moor gallery in the Victorian Arcade, will showcase her work at the Goldsmiths' Hall from October 1-6. This will be Corrinne's third fair, having first exhibited in 2022 when she showcased the work she created during the Covid lockdown.
Corrinne focuses on creating chain mail jewellery and is greatly influenced by the Dartmoor landscape. This year is no different as she works on her newest collection, focusing on sapphires and ethically sourced gold. This type of gold is known as single-mine origin gold, which is mined in a more environmentally friendly way without the use of harsh chemicals and with a focus on worker welfare and fair pay.
She said: "It is honing in on using single mine origin gold, which is more ethically-sourced gold, and sapphires. So trying to select sapphires that depict the landscape around me - kind of unique sapphires. They're kind of light greens, golden browns and party sapphires, which go from yellows to greens to blues. The patterns that I weave within the mail are yellow gold and white gold. So you still get that subtle transition of pattern which the inspiration comes from, like the shadows of the tors and the skies shifting across the grasslands and things like that."
Since she announced she would exhibit at the Goldsmiths' Fair for the first time in 2022, Corrinne has gone from strength to strength. She now has gallery space in London and has been featured in British Vogue and the Guardian. Luxury jewellery journalist Kate Matthams has also recently interviewed Corrinne for a piece in the next edition of Goldsmith Stories, which will be published during the fair.
Asked what she thinks interests journalists and the general public about her work, Corrinne said: "It's just quite unusual. Not many jewellers across the UK specialise in chain-making and the heritage technique of chainmail and on such a fine scale. For the new collection that I'm doing, I actually make sure each gold link, which I hand form, is soldered together so it is a solid gold chain. And I think it's just the movement and the drape on the body. The feel of it is just quite irresistible, really. It's quite tactile, and it makes you just feel really special. It's all inspired by nature, which I think is quite a big thing at the moment."
With such public awareness of climate change, Corrinne hopes that her ethically sourced collection will continue to expand and garner interest from the public and press alike.
She said: "We'll always need gold for things like computers and dentistry, so it will always be mined. If industries like the jewellery industry can support ethically sourced gold and the way they do their practices, then we'll have a brighter future."