“The flicker of sun falling through leaves... dust dancing in columns of light… the brush of wind on grasses.” These are the quiet moments Sia Taylor speaks of, interpreting and offering them to us through her delicately handcrafted jewellery.
Sia seeks to capture the emotions that quiet moments of nature evoke rather than directly representing it. She draws inspiration from the infinitely tiny forms and organic irregularities of the natural world; seeds, raindrops, grasses, and leaves reappear in a golden interpretation. Her dynamic jewellery encapsulate the calming sensations found in nature.
“I'm fascinated by the way wind ripples through a field of grass, or how light shimmers on the surface of water. How dust dances in shafts of early morning sunlight...I hope the jewellery is contemplative, quiet, beautiful.”
Celebrating the minuscule and macroscopic, each element is slowly created carefully worked by hand; cut, melted and hammered into shape. They are a refined beauty and have been described as ‘whispering the story of their making.’ You can really appreciate this in their craftsmanship; there is a soul and depth imbued in each piece garnered from the time it has taken to make them.
Recently, like so many, there have been great changes to Sia’s everyday and studio life, but she discusses positively how time has been taken to walk, listen and embrace the natural world around her; “it's Spring, and despite all that has changed, Spring is still Spring - it's been amazing watching how the plants and trees and landscape have changed, the abundance of butterflies, insects and birds that I'm seeing. I love looking at this transformation, and now I have time to really really look.”
With her studio just across a small stream from her house, Sia is able to walk over every day to continue making. Although there is not the usual hum of her team there is still commissions to be fulfilled and so everyday is a work day only now with more time to reflect on her practice and surroundings and rediscover the time to think, draw, paint and read. New ideas have surfaced and are being realised, one leading to the next in a natural flow; “I feel I have been gifted slow time, time to think and daydream and draw and design. It feels as if I'm back at the beginning of my path making jewellery.”
Sia walks in the countryside surrounding her home; “most days I don't see anyone, it's just me, my footsteps, the wind in the trees, birds and insects - It's so calming, and I feel acutely aware of every movement and sound around me.” The softly minimal jewellery echoes this and when worn the natural world becomes infinitely delicate. Each piece a mediation and a reminder of nature's beauty. Sia explains; “quiet moments are transformed into poetic jewellery shimmering with movement, to be collected & worn”