PENNY WARREN - JEWELLER

I am a designer of contemporary jewellery in mixed metals and have been a maker for over 30 years.

After graduating from Newcastle Polytechnic with a BA Honours in Designer Craftmanship, I took up woodturning before becoming a jeweller in the early 1990's. Initially I worked predominently in wood, copper and brass which I would patinate using chemical processes but then progressed to using anodised aluminium as a way to permanently colour metal without enammelling. In 1994 I moved to the cooperative Rosehill Workshops in Brighton where I have been based ever since.

In my work I use freehand painting, mono-printing and more recently screen-printing techniques to apply surface colour to anodised aluminium, and then a variety of traditional jewellery techniques such as roll-milling, piercing, punching and riveting to combine it with silver. I love to play with shape and colour, creating little abstract collages that can be worn, with plenty of surface texture and a soft matt finish.

Often the print can dictate the direction of the designs, influencing the geometry of the shapes to show it off to its best advantage. My work is constantly evolving in a process led way and becoming more three dimensional as this metal inspires me to explore its potential. Combined with sterling silver it is the perfect material to produce lightweight, flexible and vividly colourful jewellery.