I was lucky enough to design a range of jewellery inspired by the poetry and children’s books of the Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy for the Much Wenlock Poetry Festival. Carol Ann Duffy was the patron of the festival and also performed there.

I was excited about the idea of making a connection between poetry and jewellery. Poetry has always been a passion and I love Carol Ann Duffy’s work. Her poems and stories are full of jewellery images and metaphors and were a feast of inspiration. The poems set my creative forces alight. It was a pleasure using such beautiful words as inspiration for my work and I can only hope Carol Ann feels that what I have created has done them some degree of justice. 

I wanted to create whimsical pieces inspired by the tree top where the lead character, a 12-fingered child called Jub, would empty her sack of Happy Endings each night. The branches with their moving butterflies, leaves, acorns and stones represent the power and magic of stories.

The Lost Happy Endings

By Carol Ann Duffy

"Some of the Endings drifted away like breath and others fluttered upwards like moths fumbling for light. Some looked like fireflies disappearing among the kindling of the leaves and twigs and some were fireworks, zipping skywards like rockets and flouncing off in a jackpot of sparks high above the forest.”