55mm tall, 55mm at widest point, 5mm deep (15mm including the pin and back).

Brass with a sterling silver pin and back. WITH MOVING PARTS. As you can see from the above photo, the feathers are joined by little rings allowing them the freedom to swing as you move. If you tune into my live session, you’ll see the wings in action!

Inspired by the Emily Dickinson poem, this brooch was originally intended to have wings/feathers, the first brooch in this mini series ended up going in a different direction (wingless, just a little, textured character), but I revisited this idea and have since added wings.

This unusual brooch will be packaged up in limited edition Metalsmith//MJNW packaging pictured above: a simple black box with recycled ribbon. It will then be placed in a cotton drawstring bag, with an embroidered panel, a collaborative idea, from EEFASHION.

10% of this sale will be donated to Medecins Sans Frontieres.

All throughout our lives, we are exposed to a phenomenal amount of negative information, whether it be international conflict, political issues or problems on a personal scale. This can – understandably – be overwhelming at times. A part of the programming in our brains results in negative bias. This means we tend to focus on and therefore remember the more upsetting, hurtful or humiliating moments over the ones that truly make our hearts sing.
With this project, I endeavoured to bring the positives to light. Despite the countless struggles of the world, a little kindness and compassion can indeed go a long way. If history has taught us anything, it is that nothing can ever be solved through continuously perpetuating negativity, hatred and fighting.
It is not at all my intention to trivialise the severity of these issues, but negative things will always happen; they will always be inevitable. It does not necessarily have to be about the issues themselves, but what you choose to do about them.