Here at Adorn London we love to champion the young jewellery design talent that exists in our capital.

Today it’s the turn of Indonesian jewellery designer Michelle Oh whose gorgeous jewellery we’ve had our eye on for a little while.

From her east London studio Oh uses traditional techniques in new and unexpected ways to create hand made pieces from materials such as recycled silver and gold.

By keeping production runs small her jewellery retains a sense of uniqueness that makes it so appealing.

Smitten by her SS13 collection, which is inspired by seaside adventures and heritage forest walks, we caught up with Michelle to find out more.

• What is the ethos that underpins your work?
My work is organically inspired by travels and the little moments in life that deserve celebration. Each of my pieces were born from a memory or experience. By turning them into silver and gold I feel like I’m commemorating these memories into permanence, making them last longer.

Kelp necklaces and bracelet and interlocking Eden rings

• What is your design process?
I have a very open approach to designing and making jewellery. I do work to themes from time to time but I’m not interested in following trends, so my pieces don’t belong to a specific ‘collection’. Instead, they are part of a continuously growing curation of wearables which can all be easily paired or worn together. On average I think I create a new design every other week.

• What inspires you?
I like to collect things when traveling which I can later use in my work, in a way they become little souvenirs which I share with the world.
All of my pieces convey a sense of nostalgia, in a modern aesthetic which I think is versatile and easy to wear on a day to day basis.

• Who does your jewellery appeal to?
People who are drawn to my work say that they can relate to the stories behind my pieces and in turn they imbue their own memories to the pieces I make when they wear them; this is a big part of why I love jewellery.

• How do you achieve the interesting formations on your jewellery?
The ‘encrusted’ effect on my jewellery has been achieved using a combination of traditional silver-smithing techniques as well as the manipulation of a relatively new material: precious metal clay.
This material allows me to create artistic and ornate organic textures in a level of sensitivity which is otherwise impossible to create by machine.
I like things that don’t look perfect, so I try to always make or finish my pieces by hand to give each piece a more raw and unique quality.

Coral stud earrings with green tourmaline and blue topaz

Words: Maia Adams