Finley McNamara, the creator behind Fin the Dragon Art, is a jeweller and artist who has
been unable to stop making things since they could first grasp a crayon as a child. Raised in Burlington, Vermont, USA, Finley spent much of their childhood in art classes.

After studying drawing, sculpture, painting and graphic design they decided none of it was for them and that they would prefer to play with fire for a living. Following a lifelong fascination with how jewellery can convey memories between generations, they studied Silversmithing and Jewellery Design
at Glasgow School of Art.

While studying they spent holidays and weekends traveling to different art museums and rock concerts gathering inspiration. Since graduating remotely during the 2020 lockdown, their workbench has moved back to the United States where they work for a small jewellery shop that does mostly custom wedding jewellery and repairs. In their off time they create collections of jewellery and paintings inspired by imagery they collect on walks and general reactions to daily life. Most often they can be found at their bench joined by their cat and a large mug of tea.

Fin the Dragon Art is a one person jewellery studio seeking to fill in the gaps they think commercial American jewellery leaves. Bored by the endless sea of solitaire diamond rings, unadorned signets and ball stud earrings, their work seeks a balance between fun and wearability. Finley combines traditional materials and metalworking techniques with found objects to create wearable versions of their paintings and sketches.

WORK AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE SOON

Working directly with clients to design pieces they seek to celebrate aspects of life often overlooked in commercial design, making wearable reliquaries for beloved but broken household objects, and mementos of mundane milestones. Their favourite object to work with is a no longer functioning analogue camera, a treasure trove of usable parts hidden inside waiting to become new moving pieces. Combining the still usable parts of objects with precious materials to become small sculptures, their work celebrates daily use objects they have fallen in love with as they move through the world.