Meet the Maker of the Flowers of Love collection - Joanne Bowles

Meet the Maker of the Flowers of Love collection - Joanne Bowles

The Flowers of Love collection launched last month at Licensed To Charm. The collection includes gorgeous handcrafted delicate flower charms, each one has a different symbolic meaning, giving them a sentimental appeal that will be a lovely addition to any jewellery collection. The collection includes 12 beautiful flower charms, 6 in Sterling silver and 6 in Gold Vermeil. Made in the traditional way cast from hand-carved waxes. In this post, we meet the maker, Joanne Bowles who created the beautiful flower moulds for the collection. To find out more about the making process and Joanne, keep reading. 

1. How did you get into jewellery making? I have always loved making and designing and after going through art school, I originally specialised in sculpture and objects. I became really excited by jewellery after my MA when I became interested in jewellery as a wearable sculpture really and found a love for creating pieces for people to wear and love. The materiality is so important to me, I love starting with raw materials and making them into something beautiful and meaningful.

2. What and where did you study? I began my creative education at Brighton School of Art and then went on to do an MA at the Royal College of Art. At art school you learn so much about how to make and design but also about yourself and your tastes and what really inspires you.

3. Explain how you created the Licensed To Charm flower collection? It started with the idea to create a set of hand carved beautiful flowers to represent the meanings behind the flowers. I began by sketching the flowers and then hand carving them in jewellers wax using various very small tools to get the right form. These are then cast into silver using the traditional lost wax technique. 

4. What is your favourite charm from the collection and why? My favourite has to be the daisy charm as I just love the simple petal shape which is multiplied so many times to create such a beautiful form. 

5. Outside of jewellery making, what other things do you like to make or do? I have always loved sculpture and object making. I have metal wall sculptures and vessels in my house that I have made and I sometimes make in ceramics too. When I get the time I do like to draw as a research method. I draw objects that I find along the Thames shoreline, which influence the textures and forms that I use in my work.

6. Are there any exhibitions, galleries or artists that inspire you? My favourite all time place to go is the V&A museum. It is just such a place of wonder for any designer and maker, there is so many amazing objects there and of course the jewellery gallery is amazing. I could happily get lost in that museum all day. I also love going to the Collect exhibition which is once a year at the Saatchi gallery for a contemporary take on materials and making. 

7. What is your favourite part of the jewellery making process? My favourite part of the process is really the very beginning when you have a piece of wax or silver or whatever you are using in your hand and only you know what it could become. To anyone else it is nothing but to you it could be anything at all, it’s exciting! There are so many possibilities, but of course I do love seeing the finished product too, it’s so satisfying especially when you see someone wearing and enjoying it.

Shop our Flowers of Love collection now exclusively on our website.