Catherine Hills Jewellery // Bold & Beautiful

The older I get the more confident I become within myself, I have a definite style that I feel good with from the clothes I wear to the tattoos I have to the jewellery I choose to wear.  I don’t like following the crowd I like being a bit different, dare I say it bold.  I like quality not throw away, I like hand crafted and unusual.

I was over the moon when Catherine Hills got in touch as I’ve been an admirer of her work for a long while.  Her beautiful jewellery has a strong identity, it is tactile and sensuous but undoubtedly feminine, these are a small fraction of the reasons why I find it so intriguing, it fits my ethos perfectly.

Catherine works from her atelier and shop in the heart of The Pantiles, in Tunbridge Wells.  The shop itself has a wonderful mix of old and new with a feel of a Victorian Workshop. The cabinets are filled with her diverse collections and as a customer you can also watch Catherine create her beautiful distinctive pieces.

Starting back at the beginning of her career Catherine studied Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery at the Royal College of Art and gained a Masters.  After all her hard work honing her skills she was awarded a prestigious business grant from the Craft Council to establish her own central London studio.  From here she launched her signature collection and grew her portfolio of clients.  Her work has been stocked and showcased in: Harrods, Heals, Selfridges, Dickens and Jones, The V&A, The Gilbert Collection in Somerset House and The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.

Not only has Catherine worked with some of the leading names in the design and fashion industry she was hand picked by Warner Bros as the jeweller for the Harry Potter films, which she describes as being the most exciting and probably career enhancing job  she has ever done.  To hand craft Slytherin rings and radish earrings for Luna Lovegood along with many more pieces for the films is beyond exciting. Seeing your work on the big screen and being part of something this big is quite awe inspiring.  Catherine will be seeing her work again on the big screen with an upcoming release of a major feature film, I can’t wait to find out which!

Catherine’s work is a unique insight into hand crafted jewellery she says “I feel that my Atelier and boutique not only gives me a presence on the High Street, but means I can now offer a truly bespoke service, working closely with customers to deliver individual pieces. This is a very exciting time for me”.

Her pieces make me feel good, they are pieces of art that you can wear which is a wondrous thing.  I have had the pleasure to wear the beautiful petal bracelet for this post, it is delicate but also robust, the fine detail on each petal is exquisite and would finish off any outfit to perfection.  I am also a lover of rings, this isn’t a new phase for me, before I was married I had a rare collection but then went down the simple path of wedding and engagement ring for many years.  Now though my itch to have more rings is now being scratched.  I love stacking rings ones that you can wear on the top part of your finger too, I think they are rather unique and always get compliments.  Catherine’s bobbled stacking ring collections is stunning, so versatile and textured I want them all, from the plain bobbled rings to the snake eye, or pollen each fit perfectly with the other creating fabulous combinations.  Even better they come in a choice of metals, silver, oxide silver, gold plated or rose gold plated silver, mix up the colours to create an eye catching effect or simply stack them all up in one block of colour, either way these rings are sublime there to make your hands sing.

Beautiful pieces of jewellery are there to be seen, they make the perfect gift or present to yourself, something that has longevity an heirloom in the making, I think you will all loose your heart a little when you see Catherine’s collections.  I do hope you tell me which ones caught your eye because I know I simply can’t resist their elegant beauty.

Jx

• with thanks to Catherine Hills for gifting the use of the jewellery for the purpose of this post