Heirloom Necklace -

Your story is the precious material

2026 my own Heirloom Necklace

Most of us have meaningful objects tucked away in drawers and jewellery boxes.

A ring inherited from a parent. A pendant collected on a journey. A small charm that once belonged to a grandparent. Objects that carry memories, people, places, and moments from our lives.

Often these pieces are too precious to discard, yet rarely worn.

The idea behind an Heirloom Necklace is simple: to bring those fragments together into a beautiful and meaningful design that can be worn and enjoyed every day.

Not because of their monetary value, but because of the personal stories they carry.

An Heirloom Necklace becomes a personal map. A way of carrying important memories, people and experiences with us. It tells a story that no one else could tell because it is built from the objects and moments that have shaped a life.

The colour and meaning of the gemstones tie the elements of the necklace together.

The necklace shown here is my own.

It combines a traditional Agadez cross, a traveller's compass from the Sahara; an antique French cross given to me by my parents on my confirmation day; a small silver bell and heart from my grandmothers; a ring gifted to me by an elderly Arab man in Bethlehem when I was travelling alone at eighteen; and an ancient Byzantine cross with its beautiful green patina.

The gemstones have been chosen for their own significance: yellow topaz as my birthstone, a ruby with visible growth rings reflecting my geological background, and green emeralds and aventurine that echo the colour of the Byzantine cross.

1990 first prototype of my Heirloom Necklace, this also contained the Bethlehem ring.

As I assembled these objects, I realised this was not entirely new. When I was eighteen, I wore a necklace carrying shells, scarabs, amber and found objects collected during my travels. Without realising it, I have always been interested in jewellery as biography.

Yet every Heirloom Necklace would be different. Some might be bold and sculptural. Others delicate and understated. Some may contain inherited jewellery, others found objects, stones, medals, charms, or fragments collected over a lifetime.

-What matters is not the material.

-What matters is the story.

Because the most meaningful jewellery is rarely defined by value.

-Your story is the precious material.

A necklace with a very personal story .

I have realised this idea extends far beyond my own necklace.

Over time I hope to create Heirloom Necklaces for others, working together to transform inherited jewellery, meaningful objects, collected fragments and personal treasures into beautiful, meaningful designs that are deeply personal.

If you have objects carrying stories that deserve to be worn rather than hidden away, I would love to hear from you.

More about Heirloom Necklaces

Contact me for inquiry

Edelweiss and Alpine Light: A Bespoke Commission

The finished Edelweiss earrings, carrying memories of alpine landscapes and light.

Some commissions begin with a very specific idea.

For this pair of bespoke earrings, my client wished to capture memories of years spent living in Austria. The brief was both personal and evocative: Edelweiss flowers combined with gemstones reflecting the colours of sunset over the alpine mountains where the flowers grow.

The deep indigo colours of sunset over the Alps.

The Edelweiss has long been associated with the alpine landscape. Growing in remote mountain regions, it is often seen as a symbol of resilience, endurance and attachment to place. For my client, the flower carried memories of a landscape that had become deeply meaningful.

Edelweiss study by Henri Bergé, an early source of inspiration.

The earrings began as hand-built wax models, each flower carefully sculpted before being cast in sterling silver using the traditional lost-wax casting process.

Once cast, selected areas of the flowers were fused with 24ct gold, bringing warmth to the petals, while other areas were oxidised to a deep grey to create contrast and depth. Highlights of polished silver were retained, allowing the different surface treatments to work together and echo the changing light found in the mountains themselves.

Silver Edelweis flowers shortly after casting.

A small Edelweiss motif, indigo iolite and multi-coloured raw diamonds are suspended below the flowers. The stones are held using fine 9ct gold wirework and attached to delicate silver chains, allowing movement and light to animate the piece when worn.

The gemstones were chosen to reflect the colours of sunset over the Alps. Deep indigo iolite echoes the evening sky, while the raw diamonds capture the shifting tones of mountain light as day gives way to dusk.

What I particularly enjoy about bespoke commissions is the opportunity to translate personal stories into jewellery.

The first sketch from which the commission developed.

Every commission begins with a conversation and develops into a piece that is unique to the wearer. In this case, the finished earrings became a way of carrying a cherished landscape and a period of life in a wearable form.

The resulting piece brings together memory, landscape and material: Edelweiss flowers, alpine light and the enduring connection between people and place.

If you are considering a bespoke commission, I would be delighted to discuss how a personal story, object, place or memory might be translated into jewellery.

Introducing the Echo Collection

Echo — A Return to Form

The Echo Collection

The Echo Collection marks a new body of work within Harmattan Jewellery, exploring how forms from the past can re-emerge through process, material, and repetition.

Ancient Palmette pattern

At the centre of the collection is the palmette — a motif that has appeared across cultures for thousands of years. Found in ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Near Eastern ornament, the palmette has long been associated with ideas of growth, renewal, and continuity. Its enduring presence across time makes it a form that feels both familiar and open to reinterpretation.

In this collection, the palmette is not reproduced as a fixed symbol, but reworked through hand-sculpted wax and casting. Each element is shaped and subtly twisted, as if it has been uncovered rather than newly made — carrying a sense of having existed before. The process allows the form to shift, repeat, and evolve, creating pieces that feel at once structured and organic.

Echo Collection earrings on Palmette hangers

The motif also holds a more personal continuity within the practice. The palmette pattern has long featured in the handmade earring hangers used throughout Harmattan Jewellery. In Echo, it moves from a supporting element into the centre of the work, becoming the primary form through which the collection is expressed.

Echo bangles, rings and earrings

Across necklaces, earrings, rings and bangles, the repeated elements create rhythm and variation — sometimes ordered, sometimes clustered, sometimes cascading. Stones are introduced selectively, adding colour and depth while allowing the sculptural forms to remain at the forefront.

Echo is, in essence, a reflection on return. Not as repetition of the same, but as a quiet transformation — where forms are carried forward, altered through time, and given new presence.

The collection will be presented for the first time at the Henley Arts Trail 2026, from 2–4 May. I will this year be exhibiting at Venue 6, The Eyot Centre, Wargrave Rd, Henley on Thames, RG9 3JD.

Explore the Echo Collection here