Hiya,
Here is a blog posting by Denise, a user interface designer who works in Sumerian, and jewellery designer, who went on a volunteer trip to Kenya to help develop the initial Johari jewellery designs!
I originally studied Product Development for Fashion at London College of Fashion, and although I didn’t end up working in the fashion industry I never lost my interest in clothes and fashion (as my bank account will attest!). In 1995 I spent the summer working at The Bead Store in New York where I learned bead stringing and jewellery making techniques.
Since then I have enjoyed many an afternoon shopping for interesting beads, and many more afternoons creating jewellery from my finds. Recently I have been attending an excellent evening class in Silversmithing at Leith School of Art. So who would have thought that I would go and work for an IT company and have the opportunity to indulge in my favourite hobby…
Inspirational Women
Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to visit Kenya and work with the girls from Johari to develop a new range of jewellery. The idea was to create a selection of pieces that could be easily exported to Europe to promote the Johari brand outside Kenya. I spent the week with Stella, Sheilla, Chiku and Alice, combining our ideas to produce a selection of necklaces, bracelets and earrings.The creative process can be hard at the best of times – it is so dependant on emotion and inspiration. But working with such talented, smart women was an inspiration in itself and it didn’t take much for the creative juices to flow. By the end of the week we had produced the prototypes for the range, with a common theme influenced by the colours of the Kenyan landscape. Earthy reds and lush greens combined with rich rosewood and shiny brass were woven and twisted together to create a contemporary fusion of European and Kenyan styles.
It was such an amazing experience… even though it was pretty hard to return to my computer screen on the Monday morning :o)
P.S. You can view photos from my trip on my flickr site
