Shine 2026

Pattern brooch - All images by Julia Skupny

On Wednesday 16th September, the day had finally arrived. The private view of Shine!

If you don't already know, Shine is the Goldsmiths' Centre's programme for emerging jewellers and silversmiths, four months of training and mentoring that builds up to one evening where your collection is shown to the world. This year's cohort was thirteen of us: me alongside Amber Cooper, Annie Higgins, Beth Chesser, Ella Bonomi, Epona Smith, Helen Dugdale, Helena Palmeira, Jade Mellor, Liu Yang, Mark Eames, Matilde Mozzanega and Militsa Milenkova. Thirteen completely different bodies of work, thirteen completely different stories, all in one room.

This years Shine co-hort.

Setting up

After a quick briefing from Greg and Charlotte, and meeting the rest of the cohort in person, it was onto setting up. Those luxurious black showcases were out, and armed with lots of beautiful jewellery display furniture, we got to presenting our work.

At some point I realised I'd got too distracted nattering to others, looking at all the work (and I mean incredible work!!) My stand neighbours Beth and Matilde were fabulous, and it was so good to chat to people in the same boat. Anyway, we got taken for lunch and I was nowhere near finished. So after a delicious lunch at the Bench Cafe, it was back to finishing up the displays, and I had to pull in the help of Greg Parsons, our curator, for some final touches.

Acanthus frame necklace, faded acanthus earrings and faded acanthus brooch.

Fade & lift brooch.

Stand neighbours Beth & Mathilde.

Some of the wonderful pieces from designers on show:

Epona Smith’s Echos of Joy Beakers

Matilde Mozzanega's Chromo-dope collection

Amber Cooper’s Plume Collection

Then it was off to get changed. I'd spent ages searching for the perfect dress to go with the most opulent necklace I've ever made, my faded acanthus necklace, a piece from my final collection at university that I'd never actually worn before. It needed the perfect night, and this was it. That necklace holds so much meaning for me, and I knew it would carry me through this exciting, challenging and wonderfully huge step in my career.

Ready for the show wearing my faded acanthus necklace and earrings.

The nervous hour

The first hour of the private view was for a select few people, including the judges for the awards. I was extremely nervous, there is nothing that makes you go more blank than someone saying "so tell me about your work". I definitely didn't get it right every time, there were lots of ums, ahhs and stumblings. But that's what Shine has been all about, practicing talking about our work.

As you may or may not know, my work has an incredibly personal meaning running through it that I often find difficult to talk about, and that's exactly why I use my art to express these feelings in the first place. But now it was the time to actually talk about them, and yes, it was really, really hard. But each time I talk about it, it gets a little easier. Anyway, that's a story for another journal, back to the show.

The awards

Once the doors opened properly to everyone else, the room filled up and stayed that way for the rest of the night. I ended up talking to so many people I never expected to be talking to - someone from the Financial Times, someone from the V&A, a leading UK silversmith. It still doesn't quite feel real, the idea that they wanted to stop and hear about the work. When I got the chance to properly talk about what it meant, I could watch it happen, people connecting, realising, falling a little deeper into the pieces in front of them. They stopped being pretty decorative objects and became wearable pieces of art, with a conceptual narrative running deeply and emotionally through every one of them. Watching that happen, more than once, in one hour, was completely surreal.

The evening in full swing!

Then it was onto the awards, and honestly it still feels like some sort of fever dream. I still can't quite believe I won three awards, it was such a shock and I'm completely speechless.

Thank you so much to Darren Sherwood, who gave me the award for Technical Excellence - a real honour coming from such a renowned maker. I work incredibly hard to constantly improve my skills, and I'm absolutely over the moon to receive this!

Receiving my award for ‘Technical Excellence’ from Darren Sherwood.

I received the Best Collection from Alison Skates from E C one jewellery for my 'A place to remember' collection - thank you so much, this means the world. This collection has been hugely important to me in more ways than I can list, and it's a privilege to receive the award and recognition.

Receiving my award for ‘Best Collection’ from Alison Skeates (Charlotte Dew pictured).

And a massive thank you to Rachael Taylor for the award for Storytelling and Narrative. This one meant a huge amount to me - as I talked about grieving the loss of my dad, Rachael gently encouraged me to go deeper. It became an incredible moment of connection, and I think we both ended up tearing up a little - we've all experienced grief and loss in some form, and that felt like an important thing to hold onto. Thank you, Rachael, for listening, and for encouraging me to keep sharing it.

Receiving my award for ‘Storytelling & Narrative’ from Rachael Taylor.

I had a brilliant evening with the wonderful cohort of Shine makers - so much talent, different techniques, materials, stories, backgrounds all showing together, it felt magical! And a huge shoutout to the other award winners too - so much incredible work in that room!

The exhibition runs at the Goldsmiths' Centre, 42 Britton Street, London EC1M 5AD, until 22nd December, open Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm, with free admission. All the beautiful work is also available to buy through their online shop.

Thank you!

Thank you to the whole team at the Goldsmiths' Centre - Greg, Charlotte, Georgie, Isobel, Kai - you guys do a huge amount for the industry, and this has just been the absolute highlight of my career so far!

Feeling very lucky, very grateful, and with a very full heart.

🖤💛

If you're thinking about applying but aren't sure if it's right for you, take it from me: it will push you in all the best ways, out of your comfort zone and into something spectacular, surrounded by a bunch of wonderful people supporting you all the way.

The whole team!

Looking ahead

In the coming weeks I'll be sharing everything else that went along with the Shine experience, including the video, our stories, images and more from the past four months. I can't wait to share more with you, so watch this space.

Looking at the fade & lift brooch.