The Moments Collection – the background:
The purpose of the Design Vaults Moments Collection is to give the wearer a unique, personal and completely handmade memory of their time in Bath. Be it a tourist taking home a memory of their time at the Roman Baths or one of the other iconic locations included in the Collection, to the celebration of a special moment in someone’s life, the pendants will enable the wearer to cherish their time in Bath.
The design is completely unique to Design Vaults. The artwork was commissioned for sole use by Design Vaults and the student artist was deliberately selected to showcase a young persons talent and support the local community.
A local graphic design artist was selected to create all packaging and printed artwork, and local printers, not UK networks, have been used to print all supporting materials as well as the printed artwork. Each pendant contains 2 layers of resin, which adds the final handmade element to the pendant necklace. Each pendant is hallmarked by the Assay office, reflecting the weight and quality of the product.
Each element of the pendant is handmade, supported by local businesses and made in Britain.
The Making of the Collection:
The core element of the collection – the dome, took 6 months to create and perfect. In essence, I wanted to create a shallow, domed pendant with a frame, showcasing hand drawn images of iconic Bath landmarks.
To create the perfect dome shape I utilised modern milling techniques. Working with Joe Evans, a member of the GB decathlon team at Bath University, we used a 3 axis CNC milling machine to create a mould – in effect a block of acrylic was cut away until the perfect mould shape was created.
I then moved to traditional silversmithing techniques to ‘push’ sterling silver through the mould to an exact depth and sawed, filed, soldered and finished the piece to create the perfect dome pendant. The back of the dome is finished, again by hand, with a frosted effect, to contrast to the mirror finish on the front of the pendant.
The images are hand drawn by Alice, at the time of design a 15 year old student at Haysfield Girls School. This was her first commission and she is now studying Art & Design at Bath College.
The mirror effect on the front of the pendant creates a frame for the images, which are available in full colour, gold and black, or silver and black – there are 18 variations in the Collection. The Collection is available in Sterling Silver and 18ct Gold Vermeil (plated). The pendants are set in resin by hand, creating a domed layer on top of each image – completing the shallow, delicately framed pendant that has been so important for me to create.
Planned additions to the Collection:
– drop earrings
– bracelet
– Moments range extension featuring other key cities in the UK, e.g. London, promoting the talents of local, young artists.