I recently had a bride who liked this 'Gilded Lily' comb but wanted something to tie in with the pearl jewellery she was planning on wearing. Together we designed a pearl version of the comb that was softer in outline which suited the floral design in her dress. Her hair tone really made the pearls stand out and she still had a little bit of sparkle in the flower's stamen to twinkle and reflect the light!

Daughter Cambodia

I came across the NGO charity Daughter Cambodia early in 2009-based in Phnom Penh, they help to resuce girls from the sex trafficking trade in Cambodia. As well as giving the girls somewhere to live safely, the charity also help the girls to reclaim their dignity by giving them the skills to support themselves. By working with the charity, the girls are provided with childacre facilities and are paid above-average wages. There are a variety of products they make, but I fell in love with their silk roses! After putting in an order for them, I couldn't wait for them to arrive and was brimming with ideas for them and I certainly wasn't disappointed! They are so gorgeous, it's almost a shame to add to them-each petal is hand cut and stitched together, ensuring that every single rose is beautifully unique. I have been in talks with the charity to set up a scheme whereby a portion of each sale made by Kingston Design's range using the roses, will go directly back to the charity. The Vera Fokina piece in the post below is an example of the range.
You can read more about the charity by visiting their website at: http://www.daughterscambodia.org/index.php

Vera Fokina

Vera Fokina was a Russina ballet dancer of the early 1900s. I love her Eastern-style costumes designed by Léon Bakst, they are just so fablous with strings and strings of pearls draped across the bodices and huge sweeping feathers! So very opulent! This piece below is inspired by Vera and her fantastic costumes. It can be worn either as a hair comb or as a decorative brooch for a dress and is made of a central raw silk Cambodian rose with strings of freshwater pearls and Swarovski crystals, these are balanced by a sweeping ostrich feather at the top.

Louise's bespoke vine

Louise came to me with a very spefic idea in mind for what she would like as her hair jewellery. She was having a very classic look for her hair style for the day and wanted a vine that would enhance this style. I didn't have anything similar to what she wanted but between us, we came up with a design that was loosely based on something I had already made. She also asked me to incorporate a particular size and shape crystal to match in with her earrings that she had already bought.

Thank you to Louise for sending in these pictures and congratulations!

Flowers for a family wedding!

I spent a lot of time sourcing the most convienient place to buy the wedding flowers from. The wedding was in Limerick and there is no flower market near. I came across a company called Flowers 4 Florists who are a Dutch company, they were able to courier over the flowers direct to the door of my parents' house and they arrived in perfect condition! They even had little bags of ice in their boxes to keep the flowers fresh!

I used a combination of Calla Lillies, Freesia, Lisianthus, Gerbera and Agapanthus. I couldn't help myself using crystals too!

Family Wedding

After over 13 years together my brother decided to get married over the summer! It was a joint celebration of the wedding and also the christening of their daughter. I was involved in making the bride's jewellery, but also offered to make her veil-a cathedral length, one tier scattered with lots of Swarovski diamantés. I also did all the flowers for the wedding, I offered without really thinking about it and the only flowers I had ever done before were the ones for my own wedding 2 years ago, so I was mildly panicked about the idea! But they turned out well and a really great day was had by all! To see more pictures of this wedding please look in the current edition of RSVP.

Electric Picnic installations at night

Electric Picnic installation photos

Electric Picnic crystal installations

The village of Stradbally has returned to just about normal after hosting the Electric Picnic for the fifth year running. During the summer I was emailed by the Irish Crafts Council to submit a proposal for art or installations for the Body & Soul area of the festival.There was an open brief, so basically I could make anything-which meant it was really difficult to pick anything! I knew I wanted to create something using crystals, but I was having difficulty deciding what!

I went to see where the Body & Soul area, to try and help with idea generation. The stage for the Body & Soul area is built into a natural ampitheatre in the grounds of Stradbally Hall and it very much has a natural feel to it, so I decided that I would make something that would compliment this 'natural' feel rather than detract from it.

I designed a pair of crystal cobwebs for the corners of the stage that were quite quirky looking-during the day they would glisten in the natural light but in the evenings they would be backlit by different coloured spot lights. They were a great project to work on as it gave me the opportunity to work on a very large scale and to a much freer design brief.

I made them using exactly the same techniques and materials as I would my bridal jewellery, but the challenge was to work on such a big scale! When they were installed, they looked quite subtle in the daylight but at night, with the spotlights on them, they completely came to life!