Committed to responsible practices
- Joy makes all of her jewellery pieces entirely by hand
- Using 100% certified responsible materials is paramount to her
- Her jewels are intimate representations of memories
Joy Harvey holds a degree in chemistry. Her original plan was to pursue an academic career, but she realised this path did not bring her deep satisfaction. Joy had always had a creative side but she had never really cultivated it. When she found herself at the crossroad of her life, she decided to give it a go. Joy chose goldsmithing because of a very specific idea she had in mind: creating something that would last, something that people would wear every day, as a special token embodying their memories. Today, she creates her sculptural jewellery using 100% fairmined gold and silver and traceable gemstones and diamonds, paying meticulous attention to the supply chain and to the wellbeing of all the people involved in it.
Interview
- Where did you learn your craft?
- When I decided to quit the academic world, I enrolled in a school in Florence called Metallo Nobile. I chose it because it was the most traditional one possible. There were no digital techniques or CAD courses, all we did was work with our hands, which was in line with my idea of creating.
- Did you move on from this idea?
- Not at all. I still do everything by hand, leaving a lot of room for imperfections and asymmetry. I do not even sketch that much because I do not want to take away space from the crafting process which is what I really like. I believe that CAD is ruining goldsmithing. Everything looks so perfect, so precise, nowadays.
- What kind of jewellery do you wear in your daily life?
- Since I started making jewels, I have slowed down acquiring them. This is because I have become extremely sensitive to the source of materials and care very much about jewellery being made responsibly. I love wearing my jewellery: a stack of gold bracelets from my grandmother and an engraved bracelet from my partner.
- Where do you draw inspiration for your work?
- Mostly from flowers, but not perfect flowers you see in a field or at a florist. I actually like flowers which are dying, or decaying: they have so much more texture and so many more colours that I can reproduce through oxydations and sculpting. This is perfect, because I do not really love jewels themselves, I love making them.
Joy Harvey is an expert artisan: she began her career in 2016
Works
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Joy Harvey
