The earliest of Jacey Withers' jewelry experiments came into being during childhood sculpting sessions, during which he created likenesses of the Devon countryside set into dainty brooches. "My mum still has one," he says. These early artistic inclinations he now credits more to his mother, a textile designer, than his father, a priest who "probably just about manages to draw a cross on a babies head."
Jacey's designs may have matured in execution, but he never lost his fascination with the natural world, and turned his adult attentions to flora and fauna when launching an eponymous jewelry collection. Encompassing everything from wide-winged parakeets to grinning sharks and friendly flower blooms, each piece is hand-sculpted before being cast in metal and finished with glittering, semi-precious gemstones.
"Our look is modern antique," explains Jacey. "With each piece possessing a subtle edge of dark romanticism."
While romanticism is the impression one immediately gets upon viewing Jacey's work -- enormous lily blossoms, for example, are a running theme -- the "darkness" he refers to adds another dimension of interest, as in the edgy sword charm necklaces or shark tooth bracelets.
The designer claims his work has found an audience in "independent, stylish people with personality and individuality." Not unlike Mr. Withers himself, who plans to open his own appointment-only gallery in the near future.
