How did this rock chic girl become a famous jewellery designer, was our first question to her. “It is strange, but I never imagined myself as a jewellery designer as I grew up. However, from a very young age, I knew I wanted to go to Art School – and always believed I would become a sculptor. I came to London when I was 17 as I had acquired a place at the prestigious Central St Martins School of Art. It was here, during what is known as a ‘Foundation Year’ that I had my first experience of designing and making jewellery. And I fell in love! It seemed to me the perfect combination of my love of sculpture and craftsmanship but also the practicality and problem solving that is needed to be a goodjewellery designer, attracted me to it. I went on to study a degree in Jewellery Design at Central St Martins. My experience and education helped inmoulding me into the designer that I have become today.”
We asked her if her family supported her decision of pursuing jewellery design. To this she says, “My family has always been a huge support to me ever since I was a child – allowing me to follow my dreams whilst always being there to help me up if I fall. They continue to do this to this day and I would not be where I am now without them.”
When quizzed about her sources of inspiration, she quips, “Inspirations come from every direction for me – whether it is art, architecture, film, photography or maybe a live concert or performance. I am constantly looking and taking things in, analysing them and storing them somewhere in my brain (or in my studio) for use at a later date. I love large, monumental sculptural structures – in either architecture, or in art, but I also love the tiny details you find in daily life walking around London. So really, it is a mixture of everything, my life, my interests, my passions – whatever that may be at the time.”
The brand is coming into their 10th anniversary– which is a huge achievement in itself. Being an independent luxury jewellery brand, in a world that is dominated by large conglomerates with enormous budgets is a tough path to choose. But Hannah and her business partner have always had very strong beliefs in the design, the brand as a whole and the way they work with their clients – has been adhered to, and it has paid off.
One of her collections was a talk of the week in our office and we had to know more about it from the horse’s mouth. We asked Hannah to tell us about her latest collection that is all about diamonds. “The latest collection I designed for the brand is a collection called ‘White Heat’. It is a capsule collection of rings – and this is the first time that we, as a brand, have launched a collection focused on white diamonds. My concept for the collection developed as I started to re-imagine who a diamond-wearer was – and move away from the conventional image of white diamonds. Large diamonds are conventionally seen as a ‘classic' in jewellery, with the focus on the stones and the design of the piece following behind the stone as a subtle background.I wanted to challenge this convention, and give white diamonds a new sense of thrill and excitement.Diamonds are a stone that invokes passion, fire and desire. For me there is a sense of thrill, of deep want and need - the woman who wears these stones, who craves these stones is wild and untamed. She has a fire burning within her and a thirst for finding the ultimate thrill, for satisfying her wildest desire,” she explains passionately.
“The shapes of the rings are designed to invoke this sense of spirit. They have strength, and sculptural form. The designs don't hide behind the diamonds, they worship them. They bathe in their white heat. They are a statement in themselves,” she further adds.
One look at her jewellery designs and you know that the sculptural value of these pieces is extremely high. Thus, we were eager to know if she uses any specific technique to achieve this look. “We use both ancient and super modern techniques to make our pieces. I love the idea that you can mix incredible technology such as 3D scanning and 3D printing, with techniques such as lost-wax casting and stone setting that have been used for centuries. Many of the pieces I design challenge the normal conventions of jewellery – so techniques have to be adapted to make them work – setting stones on the inside of rings, balancing structures that look as if they should not work – so each piece is an experimentation on how far we can push the capabilities of the craft and the metal,” she answers our question.
Talking more about sculptural value and characteristic of design, she informs us about the most difficult piece she has created where sculpturing played the biggest part. “One of the most difficult was the ‘Delirium Emerald Trance Amulet’ from a recent collection ‘Delirium’. This piece was incredibly sculptural, with many different sculpted facets of yellow gold. This was then combined with variegated basse-taille enamel and set with an important emerald, that we had especially cut into a hexagonal shape. It was nerve-wracking, to say the least.”
When asked to describe the type of woman that wears Hannah Martin London, she surprises us with her answer. “I design jewellery to be worn by both men and women – my style is strong, sculptural and bold. I have always believed that once I have designed a piece of jewellery – whoever it is that falls in love with it, be that man or woman, then it is the piece they should have. Many of my designs work well on both sexes. Both the women and men who wear our creations are strong, intelligent, and independent and know their own minds. They tend to have a keen interest in creativity and design and a high taste level for all kinds of design and art. They are people who love the story behind each piece – who cherish the fact that every piece is handcrafted in London and that each piece is limited edition.”
After learning this, we were even more interested in decoding her personal style, which is chic, androgynous and edgy. “I would describe my personal style as somewhat androgynous – I wear black (always) and I like to mix menswear and women’s wear. I love sculpturally designed clothing so I buy from designers such as Alaia – who makes clothes for strong women, without them being too girly. My trademark is my bright red lipstick! As far as jewellery goes I wear very big gold! The bigger, the better for me – and I tend to wear rings as my piece of choice. I wear at least three large gold rings, often more. I also wear earrings, but prefer to wear a number of smaller gold earrings in my right ear, rather than long dangling ones.”
Without sounding to stereotypical, we were desperate to know if she likes grunge and rock-n-roll music as her personality exudes that edge. And, we were right. “I love music. It is a big part of my life. I am a rock-n-roll kind of girl and go to a lot of live gigs. I spend a lot of my spare time looking at art and photography exhibitions – I live in London where the galleries and exhibitions are second to none. There is always something incredible on – be it in one of the major galleries or one of the numerous smaller galleries,” she shares.
When asked to share her vision for next five years, she promptly replies, “As a brand, and of course myself as a designer, we are focusing more and more on a private way of doing business. Concentrating on clients we can deal with directly, and help to find them their perfect piece of jewellery – whether this is from our limited edition collections or as a bespoke one-off piece. I believe that the industry is getting more and more polarized – jewellers are either large, mass-market or focused, niche and high end. Craftsmanship and providence is becoming more and more important to clients and I believe this will only become more so as the years go on.”
“I see us becoming an international niche brand – making exceptional pieces for people in the know. I believe that integrity in design, craftsmanship and providence will become a huge part of the jewellery industry over the coming years,” she further adds.
“Follow your heart and pick the piece that speaks to you – then revel in the joy it brings you,” she advices budding designers while signing off.
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