During March Nicole took part in a jewellery making competition; here are her thoughts on the process…

“We were supplied 8gms of 18ct yellow gold, 7gms of platinum, and a stunning oval Aquamarine. We were allowed 15hrs of hand making over two days,
and the whole make have to be live-streamed to the Jewellery Industry Fair.

We were given 24hrs to come up with a design concept- I only used the final 30 mins because the week had been full of other commitments. I had a few hurdles to work through as I went through my design process. Having not hand fabricated Platinum before, there was a challenge straight up before I started. It works differently to gold, but I thoroughly enjoyed working in Platinum by the end of the make.

What I thought was probably too simple of a concept for a competition actually turned out to be more challenging and technical than I had anticipated, but I’m super stoked with the finished piece.

What I loved in the end was seeing four talented people with the same materials all come up with very different ideas. None were similar and I loved every piece!
All four pieces were auctioned off, with all funds raised going to the Black Dog Institute.”