- What is your role in the jewellery industry?
I’m the business founder and tutor at The JQ Set, a modern jewellery school set in an inspiring and spacious community workshop in the heart of Birmingham’s historic Jewellery Quarter.
- Describe your style or skill in three words:
I would describe my work as: Structured modular jewellery, relating to my engineering background.
- What’s your first jewellery related memory?
My first jewellery related memory is when I attended a part-time jewellery making class with a friend. I learnt how to make a saw pierced silver band. I was taught so many basic, but essential techniques from one project and it has inspired many of the workshops I teach today.
- What’s your favourite material or method and why?
I love saw piercing! I enjoy the fiddly aspect of cutting out a design and this in turn, leads to mindful making, almost like meditation.
- What Cooksongold product can you not live without and why?
The Green Lion saw frame (997 3322) – It’s the perfect weight – Not too heavy and not too light. The way the handle is shaped means that it’s really stiff and holds the saw blade tight and still.
- What excites you most about the jewellery industry and why?
I’m passionate about the heritage and legacy of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. It’s a great feeling to pass on traditional jewellery making skills that have been used for centuries to a new cohort of jewellers.
- What’s your top tip that you think every jeweller should hear?
Learning how to hold your metal still means that you can work accurately. This means practicing using parallel pliers and ring clamps, as well as supporting your work on a bench peg. Customising your bench peg to the way you work or the jewellery you make can also make your life so much easier. Cutting out notches and shapes allows you to support your metal better too. Every jeweller’s bench peg will look completely different and is totally unique to them!
Quick fire questions
Geometric or organic? Geometric
Gold or silver? Gold
Rings or necklaces? Rings
Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
Designing or making? Making
Natasha Mogul