What does the desert have to do with Jewellery?
Cairo, 2008-2010. I had the feeling that adventure was still very much alive here, it was something between Indiana Jones and The English Patient.
Living in Egypt was not always easy, but it was an extraordinary rewarding experience. Cairo was intense, noisy, colourful and full of contrasts. Beyond the city, however, lay a very different world: the vast deserts of Egypt. I fell deeply in love with those landscapes. Travelling into the desert felt like stepping into an older tested period of time. There was a sense of discovery and romance that I had thought belonged to another age.
What does it feel like to be in the desert?
The scale of the desert is difficult to describe. Vast stretches of eroded rock, endless dunes and horizons that seem to go on for ever. In some places, the landscape is scattered with fossils, evidence of a very different world thousands or millions of years ago. Elsewhere, you might come across the remains of Roman forts or even abandoned Second World War vehicles.
The surfaces themselves fascinate me. Thousands of years of wind have shaped the rocks, leaving textures and patterns that seem almost sculptural. There are caves, hidden valleys and places where the silence is so complete that you became intensely aware of your surroundings. The sun and clouds create ever moving patterns of shade and light that seem to be playing with one another. The days can be scorching hot, while the nights are surprisingly cold. After a long day travelling, there was nothing quite like sitting around a campfire beneath an extraordinary star-filled sky. With so little light pollution, the Milky Way and an amazing number of stars were clearly visible. It was one of those moments when you can feel there could hardly be anyone else in the world. It was a humbling experience. In the morning, stepping out of the tent, you would find the sand covered in tiny footprints: desert gerbils, beetles and occasionally the unmistakable tracks of a snake. A small reminder that the desert was far from empty. After the bustle of Cairo, this quietness was intoxicating.
Why is Harmattan named after a desert wind?
The name Harmattan comes from the Harmattan wind, a seasonal wind that blows across the Sahara and into West Africa. I chose the name for my jewellery because of my deep affection for the desert and the sense of freedom, discovery and connection with nature and ancient cultures that I experienced there. I wanted a name that carried something of this incredibly inspirational landscape with it. Today, the name reminds me daily of those journeys and the extraordinary feeling of being surrounded by a landscape sculptured by time.
How did jewellery enter the picture?
I had always been fascinated by jewellery and the stories and meanings it carries. Living in Cairo gave that interest a new dimension. The museums were wonderful places to explore the richness, imagination and creativity displayed in ancient Egyptian jewellery. I was captivated by the materials, the combinations of colour and the extraordinary skill with which objects had been made thousands of years ago.
Then there was the Khan el-Khalili bazaar in Cairo - for a geologist, the gemstone area was rather like walking into a very tempting sweet shop. There were stones in every colour and form, and I found myself enthuastically buying far more than I had any immediate use for. Eventually, I decided that I needed to learn how to work with some of them, so I enrolled on a jewellery-making course. What began as a way of using the stones I had collected soon became something much bigger.
When did a fascination become an artistic practise?
Over time, I developed relationships with people in the bazaar, and as I became a familiar face, I was sometimes shown pieces and materials tucked away from the more obvious tourist displays and quickly learned it is always good to ask what is not on show. I began selling my jewellery through a local expatriate gallery and also started a creative group called Mummy Means Business, bringing together local and expatriate women working in different creative fields.
We organised art exhibitions in the garden of my house in Cairo. They were joyful occasions, bringing together artists, makers, friends and visitors from many different backgrounds.
I made wonderful local and international friendships, and gradually Harmattan Jewellery began to take shape.
What remains from those years?
Looking back, I realise how much those years influenced the way I work today.
The desert gave a lasting fascination with natural forms, geological time and the marks left by the elements. The museums introduced the extraordinary relationship between jewellery, identity and human history. The bazaar opened up a world of gemstones and materials. I am forever grateful to the wonderful people I met in Cairo and later who gave me the confidence to begin making and sharing my work.
Harmattan began in Cairo, but it was never simply about making jewellery. It grew out of curiosity, travel, geology, history and a desire to artistically explore the stories that materials and objects can carry. For me that original sense of adventure is still there, in every collection I make.
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