Every month we feature a ‘Pick of the Month’ from the Gift Shop on the blog to find out more about the suppliers of the beautiful arts and crafts, jewellery and handmade products that we stock in our Shop. This month’s pick is the beautiful and unique jewellery by Lucie Ellen. We spoke to Lucie to find out more about what inspires her.

Tell us more about your jewellery, what makes it different?
All my pieces are thought up, designed and completely handmade by me in my garden studio in East London. I use as much sustainably sourced materials as possible, and I really hate waste! The main materials I use are wood and paper, with a bit of glitter thrown in. I think what makes my jewellery different is the processes I use, mixing wood with paper, experimenting with paint effects and coming up with new ways of doing things.

Your materials are all responsibly sourced, where does the wood come from?
All the wood I use is either FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified sustainable, or reclaimed. That means it comes from almost anywhere! I use workshop offcuts, and things I've scavenged from skips, and pieces I've found at the side of the road. I absolutely hate waste so I keep all of the offcuts that I make in my making process too! My studio is overflowing with boxes of tiny pieces of wood, just waiting to be put to use when inspiration strikes!

What is the inspiration behind your designs?
I'm inspired by everything! Most generally patterns and textures. I use my camera to capture things I see when I'm out and about which I can then apply to my work later on. This could be anything from the texture of rock in a Welsh valley, or the pattern on the lino on the London Underground. I find the process of making to be very inspiring, so I'm constantly experimenting with different materials and processes. At the moment I'm obsessed with paint effects and patterns! The wood I use can be beautiful enough to be an inspiration too - wood grain is nature's best pattern.

How do you begin and what is the process from idea to finished jewellery piece?
My head is constantly buzzing with new ideas, which means my range changes fairly often, I'm always adding new pieces or updating old ones, which I hope keeps things interesting. I'm not really one for sketch books, I much prefer to experiment with paper cuts, collages and paint before coming up with a rough prototype that I can then tweak until I'm happy with it. If something isn't quite right it goes in the sample box, to be looked at another day or put in a sample sale.

Thank you to Lucie for chatting with us! A selection of Lucie Ellen’s jewellery is available to buy in our Shop.  

Image credits: Necklace by Lucie Ellen © The Lightbox; Lucie Ellen’s workshop © Lucie Ellen.