From architect to goldsmith…

Cari-Jane Hakes makes and designs jewellery  in her workshop on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds in England.

She is originally from Glasgow, Scotland and learnt how to design whilst studying to become an Architect at the University of Bath and the University of Cambridge. Whilst learning how to design buildings and bridges she became fascinated with the details - the bits of architecture which scale a building right down to the size of a human hand - a door handle, a handrail, a staircase, a bench.

She began to learn the discipline of jewellery making and design in 2005 at Morley College in London. 

Her designs draw on her architectural work and respond to particular natural phenomena. She will often use literature and traditional stories from northern latitudes as conceptual frameworks for her designs.  She works in series, reducing the visible world and that expressed in the written word into pieces of wearable sculpture.

She firmly believes that jewellery should be worn often, everyday perhaps, so much so that the pieces become part of your personality.