London based jewellery designer, Charlotte Flyvholm, derives inspiration from her Danish and Polish roots and images from her travels around the World, in describing her collection. She grew up in Denmark, right at the tip of the country, "where the light is incredible and the hues you get to see still influence me today." Drawn to local architecture, "shapes, patterns and colour gets my creativity going," sketching, drawing and photographing, "sometimes for weeks before sculpting the final distilled product - I want my pieces to tell a story."
Learning her craft from studies at Central Saint Martins in London and from sculpture courses in Florence, there is a particular fascination with the Danish aesthetic: "I have a interest in Danish architecture and furniture design. The Klint pieces were inspired by Kaare Klint. He embraced the principles of modernism concentrating on clean and pure lines. My Polish side allows for a bit more decoration, with vivacious colours rooted in organic shapes." she finds the necklace in the Klint series "so elegant the way it rests on the collarbone. It accentuates the sensual in a very subtle way."
The collection is hand-made, making each piece unique and predominantly of 925 silver and 22 carat gold vermeil, using semi-precious stones such as rough cut diamonds, rubies, emeralds and yellow diamonds. Of the use of rough cut gems we see in her work, "they are incredibly beautiful and as close to what nature intended. Too much cutting and shaping takes away from the gems’ natural beauty. Not so long ago I visited the Arctic and found the ice formations in the underground glaciers breathtaking, a cave full of rough gems!"
The work it seems, is very much an expression of travel images and the Mask range follows that theme. "I spent some time in China studying Kung Fu and then went on to travel around Indonesia a couple of years later. I suddenly found that I’d built up a collection of sketches and photographs of all these tremendous masks – the result of which is now Norman (winking ring with emerald) and Norma (necklace with ruby in mouth)." Her current base also does not go amiss, with St Paul's Cathedral creating inspiration for the Dome pieces, as well as the Ottoman domes in Florence and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
"The Mantas, for me, are very dreamlike and fluid. Diving off the coast of Australia when I was younger I saw one of these creatures and the image has stayed with me ever since." Currently, she seems to be never without wearing her three Mastiff rings, telling us that "the Domes took quite a few outings around Valentine’s day!" Constantly on the go with new ideas, Charlotte is currently "working on a necklace to accompany the Mastiff rings and quite a few new bracelets that will be perfect for stacking."
Interview: Nardip Singh
Images provided by CFconcept
Copyright © Charlotte Flyvholm
www.cfconcept.com
