Interview with Jewellery Designer Tessa Metcalfe

Handcrafted with love and care, designer Tessa Metcalfe has an unusual technique to create fine and interesting jewellery. Her eccentric methods invite you into a dark fairy tale filled with fantasy. 

With pigeons being part and parcel of London’s urban environment, often being looked at as a ‘rats with wings’, it’s hard to see the beauty in something which most describe as vermin. However East London creative Tessa Metcalfe does see the beauty in these feral birds and uses their feet as casts for her jewellery range.  “I had a pair of pigeons feet left after I made a hat out of the rest of the bird. I've felt a real affinity with pigeons since I was a child. I think growing up in a city you don't get much wildlife but the pigeons were always around” With road kill and animals given to her from her father, Hugh Metcalfe, the ideas of using them rather than letting anything go to waste lead her to start exploring taxidermy in her bedroom.

Although it seems that there is something dark about the taxidermy process Metcalfe believes it has honesty to it, “To me it’s recycling and celebrating the beautiful natural form of something- Not everything has to be manufactured identically and made perfect, sometimes the things right in front of us are more beautiful, it’s just looking at them differently.” Her other work called ‘mice’ saw her use little mice in which she put jewels in their eyes for the shop window of an independent jewellers in Brighton called Baroque, and this was nominated for the Jewellery Week’s UK shop window competition.

Her designs come in gold, silver and bronze and often have a precious stone encased in the claws of the pigeon. With rare stones in an array of colour from pearly white to black crystal juxtaposed against the wrinkly sharpness of the claws, the collection of jewels have a primitive but expensive feel.  “Jewellery is an object purely for pleasure. You don't need them, you want them, and I celebrate that. Rings should make you smile and add fantasy to everyday life”. She cites the stories of Leda and The Swan and Hans Christian Andersen’s, The Ugly Duckling as one of the biggest epiphanies in her life and her belief in myths and legends gave her the passion to incorporate this into her designs so that the wearer can have “a little dream to carry."

With a background in illustration her jewellery speaks of intricacy and specialism with attention to the finest details. “Telling a story through an object or image without the barrier of language, I think that is a beautiful idea and when I pass on a piece of my jewellery it’s like giving someone my fairy tale.” Bringing her ideas of magic and fantasy to jewellery design is something new and her methods confirm this. “It’s unconventional I guess. I studied illustration and then got into taxidermy which has leaded me, somehow, to jewellery, and I love it. I'm self-taught so I design backwards and learn the skills after; it’s a process of love.”

The collection based around ‘finding beauty in the gutter’ was shown at London Fashion Week’s Wolf&Badger showcase which supports new and exciting independent fashion, jewellery and accessories design.