Penny Warren

Incorporating colour into jewellery without the use of precious stones or enamelling techniques has always been Penny's main area of interest. In 2001 she began to use anodised aluminium as a permanent way to colour metal and became an instant convert due to its limitless surface decoration potential.

Penny hand-prints and dyes the aluminium with textured papers, and compliments this with roll-milled silver which she sometimes oxidises. Nature can be a direct inspiration in the designs but Penny is also drawn to simple geometric shapes that express the colours and textures to their best advantage. Sometimes working from sketches but mainly working directly with the material Penny finds her designs grow organically through the process of play. Penny is constantly therapeutically moved by working with colour in such a way. Penny makes all the components of her jewellery by hand in her shared workshop in Brighton where she has been based for 24 years and works in small batch production.

Aftercare

The colour on the aluminium is permanent, waterproof, will not tarnish or fade in sunlight or seawater. The polished edge will keep its shine. It is generally scratch proof but if rubbed repeatedly with another metal a dull cast will result on the surface so best to avoid this. If it gets dirty it can be cleaned with washing up liquid and a wet cloth, or just wiped with a tissue. The most convenient and unmessy way to clean off tarnished silver is to use a polishing cloth such as Goddards blue polishing cloth (sold in Sainsbury's for example) although Silvo is perfectly adequate.

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