Why jeweller Ella Fearon-Low is turning over a new leaf
The London-based maker on the inspirations behind her hand-carved brooches debuting at Collect art fair this month
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‘When people find the right jewellery for them it’s like a good first date!’ enthuses London-based jeweller Ella Fearon-Low. ‘There can be a very visceral connection.’
The tactility, tone, and size of Fearon-Low’s designs – which are formed from intuitively hand-carved, richly coloured Lucite (a type of acrylic glass) and draw on both organicism and the decorative arts – are sure to attract at this year’s Collect art fair, taking place virtually on Artsy.net. For her digital debut with UK gallery Design-Nation, Fearon-Low is showcasing a pair of brooches, which were made at the end of 2020.
‘I couldn’t make one without the other,’ Fearon-Low says of her Folium pieces, which fuse together elements in two earlier designs: Trifolium brooch (2019), inspired by the natural three-pronged shape of a leaf, and Lanceolate brooch (2020), which alludes to the graphic lines of art deco.
Fearon-Low notes the ‘urgent energy’ that exists between her two newest designs, which are constructed from hand-carved ovular pieces of black and oxblood Lucite dotted with vintage pearls and 18-ct gold rivets and pins, then framed by gold vermeil. ‘The edging of the oxblood piece resembles seaweed,’ she says. ‘It’s quite different from my normal work which is quite restrained and formal. l kept playing with the shape until I found a line that I was excited by.’
Photo: Jessica Klingelfuss Fearon-Low’s design process begins with quick sketches, pictured here with the Folium brooches she will exhibit with Design-Nation at Collect. Photo: Jessica Klingelfuss
Fearon-Low embarked on a second career as a jeweller in 2016, after training at Morley College. In her design process, she makes hundreds of quick sketches – ‘a pearl will be a circle and a pin a dot’ – which rarely fully resemble her final designs.
This is due to the painstaking process of hand-carving Fearon-Low employs, with pieces of Lucite being continually shaped and formed. ‘My refinement process is very tactile,’ she says. ‘I take my file over the surface of pieces again and again, sensing what needs to be curved or softened.’
As a result of her process, each of Fearon-Low’s pieces of jewellery is unique. ‘I know some makers, who through meticulous drawings, could replicate a design 20 years later,’ she says. ‘It would be impossible for me to do that.’
Collect 2021 will take place online on Artsy.net from 26 February, with works on view and commissions available until 24 March. Over the coming weeks, we’re meeting the makers making their debut at the fair – follow the pre-fair action online and on Instagram at @collectartfair and #collect2021.
