Faye Hall’s background in fashion and textiles is – quite literally – tangible in her designs. It not only affects her aesthetic, but the materiality of her work. Soft finishes, the winding pathways of threads, and coloured dyes and eclectic textures. In an industry so full of metals, stones and ceramics, Faye’s pieces have a soft and comforting style – each piece a tiny tapestry, intricately made with love and attention.

She is currently exploring embroidery as a means of creating jewellery, stitching carefully to create wearable objects that explore tactile qualities. Faye’s creative process involves a dynamic dialogue with the materials and with the wearer with whom they end up. Her yellow and black brooch, which is available on the Cluster online store, evolved from a sketch and wood collage.

BUY FAYE HALL WORK HERE

“I evolve constantly, always seeking new colour combinations and forms. I want my jewellery to make the wearer feel joy.” - Faye Hall

Another of our wonderful Cluster designers who works with textiles is the expressive Alice Kennedy. Her pieces are swirling galaxies of thread, created with repurposed textile and precious metal. 

Like Faye’s brooch, Alise describes her Offcut 1 Brooch — part of the same series as her Offcut Ring, which can be found on the Cluster online store — as having some autonomy in its own creation.

“Using materials that might otherwise have been overlooked is really what my jewellery is all about,” she says. “As the gilded leaf shapes which cover the surface of the brooch were cut-out sections from the Cutout bead necklace. They fell in a pile as I was making the sections of the necklace, and looked so beautiful all scattered together that I wanted to find a way of carrying that haphazard, airy feeling into a brooch. They are, in a way, a by-product of another piece.”

Alise remembers being enchanted by her grandmother’s jewellery and explains that this childhood treasure box led her to studying traditional jewellery design. Time spent designing costumes in the theatre also add to the drama and artistry of her work. Her work in costume helped her to hone her skill in communicating stories with fabrics.

“I am fascinated by the ability of textiles to tell a story about the wearer, especially with denim that wears and fades very visibly with the movement of the body. It’s incredibly interesting to me that denim is the only fabric which is ripped, worn and faded to make it more appealing!

To Alise, materials are vital and inspirating, for the stories they tell about the maker, the wearer and the world. In her studio she works to create sustainable pieces and hopes that contemporary makers are all moving in the direction of more conscious creation.

“This piece was a very happy accident,” she explains, “I couldn’t stop thinking about the colours and composition. I really enjoyed creating a contrasting personality on the reverse, so that the wearer can choose between the two.”

Embroidery as a technique makes this double-sidedness on the pieces an enjoyable challenge: “usually the back is a lot messier,” she says, “I love the intimate scale of the jewellery and am interested in making the reverse as beautiful as the front.”

Although the personality of her work is predominately one of textiles, Faye also uses wood and precious metals in her work. She likes the contrast in weight, she explains, and how each material pulls and interacts with the embroidery. She doodles and draws to allow her mind to wander in the direction of a new idea.

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