Meet ‘I Love Dolly Jewellery’

Meet 'I Love Dolly Jewellery'

I am here to introduce you to my little business having won the Modern Makers Award Jewellery Category 2022! I am Keeley, the sole person behind I Love Dolly Jewellery, being the jewellery maker, metalsmith and designer responsible for all of the creations sold on my website or commissioned to be made. Dolly was my nan and I lost her at a young age – she felt like the right choice when I came up with my brand name with her having been so important to me. I work at a little studio in East London connected to my home, which means I get the best balance of being able to care for my family whilst also doing something I love. Once my son was born 4 years ago, I took the leap whilst on maternity leave to make jewellery making less of a hobby and more of a business. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made!

I started tinkering about with beads and wire many years ago and in fact won a competition at a craft fair to make a wire crochet necklace which kickstarted my love of making jewellery – I have always been creative in lots of different things but once I settled on jewellery making, I did not look back. There are so many techniques – I have dabbled in wirewrapping, foldforming, electroforming, etching, precious metal clay and casting but my real love is for traditional metalsmithing with basic tools. I am inspired by age old methods which have lasted throughout time. I have a huge love of texture and contrast within metals and I like to balance this out by selecting the right gemstones and materials to set within my jewellery.

This leads me onto my love of beach finds and how I work them into my jewellery. I am passionate about the upcycling element to this, picking up what is essentially ‘trash’ from our beaches and displaying it within precious metal – I find it fascinating to create jewellery from something considered ‘waste’ with something considered precious. I particularly love sea glass and sea pottery; if you’re not familiar with what these are, they are discarded fragments of glass and china which find their way into the sea and become smooth by the ocean’s waves over many years. I have also worked with sea plastic, shells and even pebbles.

We luckily have more awareness now of where our trash goes and how it unfortunately finds its way back to nature and to remove this and put it to good use feels very rewarding. There is much history around sea glass and sea pottery and once you delve into this area of expertise, you kind of get lost…in a good way! The beachcombing community is a very lovely, welcoming one and to exchange knowledge or information on pieces found is exciting. It is interesting to see what washes up and where and it can be very special to trace a fragment’s origin from around the world or to a certain period in time. Beachcombing is a beautiful pastime for my family too… albeit with heads crooked down towards the sand and pebbles! I think there is a term known as the ‘seaglass stoop’ because you can always spot a fellow hunter on the beach by their posture!

My creations are purely one offs which each carry a piece of my heart and soul, fashioned from only my hands and the thoughts in my head. I have control over every edge of my business and strive also to make it as eco-conscious and personal as possible.

You can follow me on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest to see what my creations are about. You can also have a browse at my website www.ilovedollyjewellery.co.uk to give you a flavour of the types of pieces I produce as commissions or my ready to wear range. No two pieces of I Love Dolly Jewellery are ever the same! Thanks for stopping by.