Catherine Hartley is a London based goldsmith focussing on the exploration of materials and processes. Through simple but strong forms, she draws out the rich colours and textural potential of metals.
An interest in the ancient origins and individual character of the materials on her bench is central to her practice. Their unique properties inform her designs: gold is textured to highlight its warm glow, silver stretched and shaped for its strength, and base metals patinated to bring out their beautiful tones. Various metals are also joined so that the contrast between them creates a relationship that amplifies each. Working with natural materials, she often finds inspiration for her designs in natural forces and forms.
Catherine is also drawn to the intimate nature of jewellery and the way that it can be a vessel for memory, connection, and personal narrative – especially pieces that are worn over many years or generations.
Through inventive compositions of colour, scale, and pattern, Catherine creates jewellery that is deceptively simple, but on closer inspection layered with detail and complexity in make. Her work invites touch and finds impact in the understated.
