Athene

It’s me, Athene, the face behind ‘The Brand’ – generally the one pulling the silly faces. I do try not to take myself too seriously, does it show at all? 

I’ve made things ever since I was a small child, and always been obsessed with colour. I’ve been making and selling jewellery for 30 years, (eek, that actually sounds a tiny bit scary) but I definitely still learn something each and every day. The brand has developed of course, over the years, but still stays true to my core values. Have fun, look after the planet, embrace colour, be nice, and ALWAYS make a silly face if someone points a camera at you. 

Always obsessed with tiny details, even as a small child. My first recollected project was a tea towel, on to which I sewed a selection of my favourite buttons. I was 4. My mum still has the tea towel, and all the buttons are still present and correct. 

With a Grandfather who was a tailor on Berwick Street, and a mother who made most of our clothes throughout the 70s and 80s (including our bridesmaid dresses) I learned by watching and soaking it all up. From the tea towel I moved on to crochet, knitting, rag rugging, sewing clothes for Sindy (remember Sindy?) out of rose petals from the garden – which is just as fiddly as it sounds!

By 11 I was making my own clothes, (Sindy wasn’t that interested in my bias cut pale pink rose petals) and by 16 I was selling dresses I’d made to friends at school. I’ve spoken about the ill advised teenage ball gown before on social media – bottle green, wrapover bodice, princess length, ugh! So no need to repeat that and embarrass myself again. 

I went on to an art foundation course at college, assuming I would study fashion, but was gently steered towards jewellery by my lovely tutor – the jeweller Susanna Heron. And the rest writes itself.

I studied first at Middlesex University and then at London Guildhall University’s Sir John Cass faculty of Art and Design, graduating in 1996 with a degree in Silversmithing, Jewellery and Allied Crafts.