Q&A with Poppy Norton
Location: London
Discipline: Jewellery
Poppy Norton makes design-led statement jewellery from her London Workshop. Having originally trained in Product Design at Central Saint Martins, Poppy went on to work as an interior stylist, art director and trend reporter for a wide range of clients including The Guardian, Grand Designs magazine, Channel 4 and WGSN.
Eighteen years of styling experience and two children later, Poppy was keen to embrace new challenges and return to her designer-maker roots. She headed back to the workshop and started her training as a jewellery designer at Morley College in 2016. Immediately championed by UK galleries, fashion stylists and design influencers, Poppy’s jewellery has been shown at Paris Fashion Week, featured in both design and lifestyle magazines, and made multiple television appearances. In 2022 Poppy’s work gained further recognition when she was selected by The Goldsmiths’ Centre to take part in Shine: ‘Celebrating the UK’s most promising talent in jewellery and silversmithing’.
Please describe your creative process/practice:
I design and make statement jewellery from my London workshop.
Heavily inspired by the aesthetics of the Bauhaus movement and taking further inspiration from mid-century art, design and architecture, my jewellery collection is created using a palette of flat geometric shapes and tubular metal. My design process often involves me playing with this limited palette, designing on the body rather than in a sketchbook. I often stick pieces to myself to work out both placement and scale, making test pieces in brass before moving on to precious metals.
Through using this limited palette of geometric shapes, my jewellery has a cohesive language which allows for pieces to be mixed and matched with ease. I use brushed surface finishes (which are both practical and beautiful) with the intention of creating statement jewellery that can be worn with everyday ease and often in a variety of ways.
Your Influences and motivations:
I originally trained as a product designer and worked for 20 years as an interior stylist, so my approach to jewellery is perhaps a little less traditional than most…
Heavily inspired by the aesthetics of the Bauhaus movement and taking further inspiration from mid-century art, design and architecture, my design-led collection is created using a limited palette of flat geometric shapes combined with tubular metal.
I design for myself in the hope that people who like my style and identify with me, will like my work too. I wear everything that I design (to make sure that it’s comfortable and ‘works’) and anything that I don’t want to wear is dropped from the collection, because if I don’t believe in a piece why should I expect others to.
Your sustainability / environmental credentials:
By its very nature slow-making is a more sustainable approach to fashion – all of my pieces are designed and made by me in London using recycled and recyclable materials where possible. But more importantly my pieces aren’t intended to be thrown away after one season, they are designed to be worn and loved for a lifetime.
See Poppy’s work at MADE London from 3 – 5 November.
Poppy Norton, Moon Brooch, brass, £220
Poppy Norton, Shapes Necklace, Silver, £975
