Sarah Burns-Collins

Sarah Burns-Collins has always had a love of the concept of treasure. Born in Canada but growing up in the Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate, she would explore the lost treasures in the Victorian dump, like an inland mud-larker. Searching for these fragments and memories of past existence, they shaped her love of historical objects and the ancient tales they hold within. Early jewels were carved from bone inlaid with silver and driftwood with reticulated metals. Themes of sentimentality and the cycle of life inspire her research. Her current work is based on the forest in which she found creative sanctuary. Tiny details from the wilds of nature are carefully studied and recreated in experimental wax carved techniques that lead to highly textured cast metal. Gemstones are selected and used in a painterly fashion, with scatterings of light across the carved surfaces.

‘During my early years of mother-hood the forest was a place to escape London and teach my son how to play and explore as I did as a child. Every step on mulchy leaves, releasing that amazing scent of earthy oils. I search the forest floor for changes to patterns that might lead me to discover fronds and frills of lichen and fungi. There is always a hidden world to find’.

As the Creative Director for Gill Wing Jewellery for over 15 years, through careful curation she has nurtured the Islington gallery; supporting hundreds of Jewellery artists in their own practice.