Jewellery

Whitby jet is a prehistoric black fossilised wood most commonly associated with Victorian mourning jewellery but now rare, the trend for wearing jet jewellery was started by Queen Victoria in response to the death of her consort Prince Albert. Mined during its heyday, raw samples of jet are now found washed up by the tide; or encased in the cliff face on the North Yorkshire coast.

Jacqueline Cullen has developed innovative processes and formats that celebrate rather than disguise the inherent flaws and inclusions of Whitby jet allowing the natural beauty of the material to speak for itself, removed from connotations of death, grief and morbidity. Jacqueline is inspired by dramatic acts of nature, a placid sky ripped open by a slash of lightening, a volcano erupting, a cliff edge left jagged from erosion. Hiatuses inform her aesthetics and the interruption or breaking up of a bold, fluid form is central to her work where fractures, fissures and crevices are highlighted with an encrustation of 18CT gold granulation, Swarovski crystals or black diamonds.

Jacqueline recently received an Arts Council London award and a collection of Whitby jet accessories were commissioned for evil character Narcissa in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Financial Times, The Independent, Harper’s Bazaar, You and Your Wedding, Wallpaper* magazine and on BBC TV and BBC radio amongst others. The feather necklace and carved ring were worn by Deborah Meaden during the last series of Dragon’s Den shown on BBC2.

Jacqueline Cullen is the only person working with Whitby jet in a non-traditional way and she remains committed to introducing this ancient and sensual material to a contemporary audience.

Jacqueline Cullen was mentored by Georgia Fendley in 2011

Find out more about Jacqueline Cullen at www.jacquelinecullen.com