It's me, Athene — a silversmith and jewellery maker based in Guernsey, crafting handmade pieces using traditional techniques, recycled gold and silver, and ethically sourced gemstones and freshwater pearls. Every piece leaves my studio individually made and finished by hand, with no mass production and no shortcuts.

I'm the face behind 'The Brand' and also 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 can remember, and have always been obsessed with colour. Making and selling jewellery has been a constant for 30 years, (eek, that actually sounds a tiny bit scary) but I definitely still learn something new 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.

How I started –
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 kept the tea towel, with all the buttons 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!

How it progressed -
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 satin, 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.

How it got out of hand -
Always learning and experimenting, alongside the jewellery I’ve made hats for Royal Ascot, following a student placement with the milliner Edwina Ibboton. Over three decades I’ve made countless bridal pieces, incorporating both millinery and jewellery techniques.

More recently I undertook an intensive tutu making course, (not a million miles away from hats if you have a certain type of brain) and my teenage daughter now sports a handmade tutu made to exacting Royal Ballet standards.

Creativity, attention to detail and overkill are clearly my personal hallmarks, using skills I learned from previous generations, and now my two kids have picked up the creative baton. Teaching and passing those varied skills on are at the core of my practice.

As the full saying goes "A jack of all trades and master of none, is oftentimes better than a master of one".