Founded in 2020 The Flourish Jewellery Community Interest Company (CIC) is a socially engaged craft project within the field of contemporary jewellery design. As an organisation, we aim to empower marginalised groups and individuals through the act of making whilst examining the role of craft making, particularly contemporary jewellery design, and how it engages with disadvantaged, underrepresented and hard to reach communities.
To enable individuals from hard-to-reach communities to access high quality jewellery training taught by professional makers. By engaging in this project, participants can experience positive change which contributes to better health and wellbeing, alongside improved social and economic outcomes for themselves and the communities they live within.
Our level one community training Programme was funded by Creative Scotland. This enabled participants to develop their skills in jewellery design including saw piercing, and texturing skills enabled them to create a unique piece of jewellery. The exhibition was sponsored by Hamilton & Inches and was exhibited at Custom House Gallery.
With funding from the Goldsmiths’ Centre, Hamilton & Inches and private donors, our 2nd year community training programme ‘The Glow Programme’ developed. It is providing learning opportunities which enable the participants to further develop their jewellery making skills to the next level. New techniques including bezel stone setting, enamelling, etching and fly pressing are being introduced this year allowing them to develop their experience in designing and making jewellery. In October 2022 the work they have created will be exhibited as part of The Scottish Goldsmith’s Trust Elements Exhibition.
Jessica Howarth has a wide range of experience within contemporary jewellery design and community arts. An award-winning graduate from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Jessica has been a practising jeweller and artist since graduating in 2011 with a 1st Class BDes Hons. She has exhibited at a local, national and international level with organisations such as the Dovecot Studios, Fife Contemporary Art and Craft, An Talla Solais, Craft Scotland, and The Edinburgh Iranian Festival. Jessica was an invited speaker to Craft Scotland’s Making Connections symposium and The Scottish Goldsmiths symposium. Jessica has twice been a recipient of Edinburgh City Council’s Craft Maker Award.
Jessica currently facilitates numerous community arts projects including the National Lottery funded project ‘Stitch in Time’ at North Edinburgh Arts. As a lead artist for Art in Healthcare Jessica delivers art workshops for adults with mental health challenges. These take place in various community settings across the city of Edinburgh. In the Summer of 2020, Jessica co-produced along with Dr Jessica MacLaren from Edinburgh Napier University, a series of online participatory mask-making sessions with a cohort of mental health nurses. This was a core element of Dr MacLaren’s current research on the emotional labour mental health nurses undertake when in practice. Jessica has recently facilitated making sessions for Dr Sushila Chowdhry from Dundee University as part of her research into Mothering in the neonatal intensive care unit: Creative storytelling workshops – (In)visible Women.
Jessica combines her artistic practice with her training in community work. She is currently the project coordinator for the ReMode Collective, a textile social enterprise working with the BAME and Newcomer communities who wish to explore the creative potential of textiles.
Lisa Arnott has an extensive range of experience and expertise within community arts and socially engaged practice and has facilitated and managed projects in Scotland and while working in Melbourne Australia. Over her 30-year career Lisa has project managed a variety of third sector funded arts projects, including Forth Sector, Craigmillar Community Arts, Whale Arts, North Edinburgh Arts and Out of the Blue. Over her career, she has also facilitated community arts projects within the Black Community Development Project, ENACT for Women, the Welcoming, and Saheliya.
Whilst living in Melbourne Australia, Lisa was an artist at Splash studio, a mental health arts organisation working with the indigenous community, Coordinator of the Generator project and left Australia after being the interim Cultural Planner at Maribyrnong City Council.
As a jeweller, Lisa successfully exhibited at the Buda Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition, Hong Kong Design Centre, Visual Arts Scotland, Gallery Ten, An Talla Solais, The Open Eye Gallery and Craft Scotland. She established the Element47 an Edinburgh based jewellers collective and the Hinterland Collective an emerging international platform bringing art jewellers together.
As a graduate of Edinburgh College of Art, she also has a PGC in Community Development which is complemented with a Masters in Metalwork and Jewellery Design (outstanding distinction) from Sheffield Hallam University where her MFA projects focused on social engaged practice within contemporary jewellery design.
You can find out more about Lisa’s work over on her website.