Neil McLaren

Originally from Saltash, just a few miles from Plymouth, I spent time as a teenager in and around the Barbican - meeting with friends, eating fish and chips (and delicious local ice cream!) as well as attending music rehearsals as a young flute player. I then moved to London to study at the Royal College of Music, and began a career as an orchestral musician.

Wanting another creative outlet alongside my music, I later enrolled in a jewellery-making course, as I had always enjoyed metalwork classes as a schoolboy. I subsequently found myself selling my work at events such as the Chelsea Craft Fair and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and also had a necklace chosen for exhibit in the Goldsmiths' Hall, London. My jewellery-making has thus accompanied a long career as a touring classical musician, which has afforded me amazing opportunities to visit galleries and museums all over the world, where I have gained endless inspiration.

I create one-off pieces which are bold and robust, and defined by their shapes, texture and simplicity. My work is instantly recognisable, with clean lines, angles and three-dimensional forms contrasting with the soft curves of the human body.

I now work from ‘The Workshop’ in the town of Lewes, East Sussex.

We have more work by this designer, including one-off pieces, available exclusively through our quaint Barbican Gallery in Plymouth.