I was recently visited by a team from the fantastic website Luxury In Progress. They spent some time with me in the studio to learn about my processes and discover how I translate my ideas into reality. Rather than just covering the latest trends or focusing on a finished product their interest lies in showing "Design, Fabrication, innovation..." Here are some photos from their visit shot by Alice Balas, you can read the full interview by Louise Benson on their site here: Luxury In Progress
Here I am with one of my mineral books looking at structures. My favourites are the 70s ones with illustrations and matt prints in great colours.
Choosing some materials, I use lots of different organic and found objects in my work I love collecting things and experimenting with my stash.
Smashing up a geode full of hidden treasure! I didn't know what this would be like inside until I broke into it.
Seeing how I could use the fragments.
The big sink, getting clean water to clean up my pieces.
A lot of my time is spent carving, shaping and sanding the objects that I cast. I can fill in and sand back several times, waiting for them to dry and cure in between. For this reason I work on a few pieces over a time adding and working back into them so they develop organically.
When I'm happy with the final shape there is some hand polishing to achieve whatever surface finish I want on the piece. The very glossy ones take a lot of elbow grease to get a perfect shine working through grades of buffers and are finally coated in a protective wax.
Ready to wear!
Luxury In Progress are currently nominated for the AWWWards which recognises design & creativity on the internet! Check out their site for more practitioners and pioneering materials and processes to find out what's new in the creative world: www.luxuryinprogress.com
If you would like to visit the studio email me at info@jademellor.com. I'm based in Manchester City Centre, by Piccadilly Station and Northern Quarter.