Let's weave the story of your horse ...
Every bespoke piece begins with a story - the story of your precious horse and you. I would love to work with you to transform your personal moments, memories and inspirations into stunning jewellery that carries meaning as beautifully as it reflects the light. Each design is an intimate collaboration, shaped by your narrative and brought to life for you through meticulous craftmanship.
From the first pencil sketch to the final polish, I bring together ancient hair working techniques, traditional metalworking skills and contemporary forms to realise your vision and celebrate your best friend.
Here are a few recent collaborations. White gold seems to be having a moment ...
This journey started off at my inlaid woven channel ring with a request for 2 lines of silver Brocade thread set in the weave and the ring cast in white gold. Then we explored how to include a few diamonds to celebrate this rather special thoroughbred mare.
An eternity ring is a beautiful way to symbolise a deep friendship and my customer chose a double half eternity with a row of tiny white diamonds, pave set either side of the woven tail hair.
We settled on a plain weave omitting the Brocade thread. The simplicty and elegance of the plain black horse hair gives a classic vibe.
I just love working with grey tail hair. Look at the little flecks of black and brown reflecting this unique horse!
My customer was looking for something really, really special and the pave ingots were her invention, tiny gemstone horse shoes, with emeralds reversed out of diamonds and diamonds reversed out of emeralds.
We took my standard Farriers Nail clasp and upstyled the nails in 9 ct solid white gold.
Half eternity ring
Woven horse hair | 9 ct solid white gold | micro pave diamonds
Upstyled Farriers Nails bracelet
Square braided horse hair | 9 ct solid white gold | micro pave diamond & emeralds
Solitaire diamond channel ring
Square braided horse hair | 9 ct solid white gold | Princess cut diamond
This is the accompanying white gold ring and it was huge fun getting to this design! Initially the idea was to match the diamond and emerald micro pave with a "toi et moi" ring. Featuring two different gemstones and made famous by the ring that Napoléon Bonaparte gave to his beloved Josephine, the toi et moi ring symbolises two souls intertwined.
In CAD we explored various different settings for the ring and succeeded in overcoming the challenge of sourcing an emerald and diamond of exactly the same size and cut.
In the end my lovely customer opted for a beautiful solitaire diamond, Princess cut, GIA certified, 0.80 carat with a colour grade E (colourless) and S1 clarity grade (slightly included).
As you can see, there are so many beautiful possibilities with horse hair jewellery. I'd love to work with you to bring your ideas to life and to celebrate your special horse. Do get in touch at info@theburnishedhorse.co.uk.
Diane