Stephanie Buddle
by Angie Boyer
"It’s colour that does it for me every time," Stephanie beams, the enthusiasm for her work obvious. "Colour, light and strong shapes". As we sip coffee in an imposing hand-built pergola, yards from her workshop door, it’s easy to see what she means. This is high summer and we’re surrounded by plants and trees of all kinds, simply bursting with vibrant colours, textures and shapes - all of them planted by Stephanie over the last decade. It’s clear that her lifestyle is built around a deep appreciation and enjoyment of the visual world and a commitment to the belief that high quality hand-made work can enhance our lives. Talking about her current designs and jewellery, Stephanie reflected that although she loves being open to inspiration and new ideas, the pieces she is making now are also the result of many and varied life experiences, all of which have profoundly shaped the way she works now.
As the strong simplicity of her work hints at, Stephanie first studied Sculpture, gaining her degree in Fine Art at Loughborough College of Art and Design in the late 1970s. "It was a time of great excitement," she recalls, during which she was able to experiment with lots of off the-wall ideas and materials. This freedom led her to work on installation pieces in a dark room environment, where she used lasers, firing them through coloured plastics and acetates, reflecting off mirrors and playing with the qualities of pure, coloured light on a big scale. Little did she know at the time what creative seeds she was sowing! On leaving Loughborough, Stephanie immediately took up a Postgraduate place offered to her at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. To her at the time, this seemed a natural progression: she had always loved the theatre, and working with lots of coloured light and strong shapes as a set designer seemed a pretty good way forward. Professional work in the theatre followed with East Midlands Arts, but as so often happens, romance took a hand, and Stephanie married husband Paul (then a post-graduate Sculpture student) after which they moved to Devon to set up a successful pottery workshop. This was a fantastic experience which lasted for 15 years (another story in itself!) after which Paul moved into pottery teaching, then went back to University, leaving Stephanie with time to stand back and look at what creative direction she wanted to follow.
At this point, Stephanie’s love of Winter sports led her to consider taking ‘time out’, and she was offered work for a ski season in the Italian resort of Selva Val Gardena, in the Dolomites, while Paul studied intensively at home in England. Taking a little time off from the hard work of chalet life for a trip out of the mountains, Stephanie grasped the wonderful opportunity to visit Venice during Carnevale time in February 2003. This was one of those moments in life, which proved pivotal for Stephanie, and led directly to the work she is making today. "I was totally overwhelmed by the environment, the colour, the exuberance and complete theatricality of the whole Carnival experience," she explained. Somehow - and Stephanie still is not able to fully explain or analyse this - it stirred in her the idea that she should revisit her earlier work and consider developing those ideas into wearable works of art.
On her return from Italy, she immediately set about experimenting again with acrylics and resins, and the rest, as they say, is history! "It really is amazing to me now" Stephanie smiled, "but looking back at all these life experiences, I can see that there is a clear line of development from my early work to the jewellery I am making today". It took a lot of commitment and courage to consider working in a brand new area of design, but Stephanie felt so strongly that her ideas were the right ones, she describes feeling as if she was being driven on by an irresistible force outside herself. With husband Paul’s help, setting up the workshop followed in Summer 2003.
Having identified what she wanted to achieve, organising the workshop happened quite naturally, and it was impressive to see what she has achieved in a highly organised space barely ten feet by eight. An ‘L shaped heavy duty bench (sculpture habits die hard!) runs along two walls, and its shorter side houses the machines - a band saw, pillar drill and a double-ended polisher with mops. The overall impression was of a small sculptor’s studio rather than a traditional jewellery workshop, and it may well be that it is Stephanie’s free approach to making that has that helped her achieve so much in a relatively short time. Once cast, the resin is cured in her "carefully temperature-controlled environment" under the bench. "It sounds quite high-tech" Stephanie said "but it’s actually just an old cupboard filled with a heating element and firebricks from a previous kiln - simple, effective and ecologically sound". The long side of the bench (under a six foot long window for plenty of South-facing natural light) is where the real creativity goes on. This is where Stephanie experiments with colour combinations, incorporating precast elements, foils, and pieces of other acrylic materials into her jewellery.
When setting up a batch of work, she lays out accent colour and shape compositions in moulds (made by her ‘in house’) and once the designs are finalised, floods them with a final colour, which is common to each ‘collection’. Sometimes a new design will simply be the result of creative ‘play’ and experimentation with the raw materials which are to hand in the workshop. Stephanie enthuses that often, the freshest work can result from a session of ’creative play’ when she gets ideas from the vibrancy of colours as they interact one against the other on the bench. Ideas may come at any time and anywhere, however - "I noticed a dazzling shop window display in Norway this Spring" she adds, "which was the starting point for the new colour range ‘Voss’. Equally, a group of people in a city Cafe, or a floral display with breathtaking natural colour combinations could inspire me to get a new idea going". She emphasised that she does not, however, seek to copy what she sees, rather to use the feel of it as a starting point, which then evolves into a new design.
Working hand-in-hand with Stephanie’s designs, the main component of the work is translucent resin, a hard and durable plastic produced by combining a liquid and a catalyst. Translucent is the key word here, for it allows Stephanie to generate an almost unlimited variety of tints and effects to produce colours with the subtlety and depth of glass, at a fraction of the weight - making it light and warm to wear, but with the potential for large and spectacular pieces.
Once cast, the work is always further refined by using four grades of wet and dry, and finished meticulously using mops on the power polisher, a process that enables her to give a glass-like finish to the work. Sterling silver findings and neck wires complete the finished pieces, although black rubber necklets are sometimes used to give a contrasting effect. What always thrills Stephanie is the way a finished, polished piece can exhibit an almost luminous quality, which gives it a life of its own when it is worn. Living as she does in the lush Southern foothills of Dartmoor just a few miles from the idiosyncratic little Devon town of Totnes, one could be forgiven for imagining that Stephanie is comfortably immersed in a rural idyll. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. The harsh economic realities, which face anyone making a living in the arts, have ensured she remains focused on keeping her work alive and forward-looking. She observes "so many customers who buy from me at direct-sell events comment on how contemporary they feel my style is, and simply cannot believe it is produced in rural Devon!" The ultramodern feel she undoubtedly achieves is brought about by a combination of her own remarkable colour sensitivities, an astute awareness of fashion trends, and a willingness to continually push the boundaries of the materials she works with.
Stephanie showed her work at the British Craft Trade Fair at Harrogate this year, where she was delighted to win a Craftsman Magazine Highly Commended Newcomer Award. The show for her was a very positive experience and brought in useful new contacts and orders from more galleries. A legacy from the pottery days, she has always felt that selling through a number of selected galleries helps to keep things buoyant, and she also participates in several exhibitions each year, which has helped raise her profile still further. Stephanie’s continued vision of the "complete product" is part of her original ‘Eureka moment’ in Venice, and includes specially made packaging which is sympathetic to her work - something which, she believes "always makes any hand made product a joy to sell, buy, give and receive". She is inspired to make sure that this level of attention to detail is maintained at all costs, and it is another part of her commitment to the philosophy of producing the very best work that she can do. This outlook in turn supports her well at ‘live’ shows, such as "Art In Action" which she was selected for this year. Customers who see her work at shows are amazed by the dazzling colours and use of light she employs in her display - "It’s another aspect of creativity that I consider essential" she adds. "Striving for good display gives me great satisfaction, but it is also a persistent challenge. It is very important for me to attend high quality Craft and Design events as well as selling in galleries. I really need and enjoy contact with the public and the feedback is so valuable. Working in isolation in a rural area can be tough, and it makes such a difference getting out and about seeing what the rest of the country looks like!"
The next big thing for Stephanie has been the recent launch of her website, www.stephaniebuddlejewellery.co.uk. Stephanie has been closely involved with the format and development of the whole site, doing all of the photography herself. The website gives Stephanie mail order capability and, as she says "a very big electronic business card".
It is quite incredible to reflect that Stephanie’s dramatic range of jewellery has still only been in existence for less than two years. The commitment and clarity of vision she has brought to this work, her remarkable use of colour, and above all the strength and determination to simply be herself has led her to a place she never expected to be in before that magical trip to Venice. Now that her range of ‘wearable sculpture’ is well and truly established, her creative spirit and continual desire to experiment continues to delight both new customers, and a rapidly growing band of enthusiastic collectors alike.
As for the future - and when production allows of course - ideas for larger scale commissioned sculptures using the same ideas she has developed for her jewellery have been mentioned.... talk about the wheel coming full circle ! Stephanie can be contacted at:
T:07974 688920
E: info@stephaniebuddlejewellery.co.uk
www.stephaniebuddlejewellery.co.uk
