Meet Jeweller - Jo Pond
Tin Jewellery
Next up on our blog is an interview with tin jewellery designer (amongst her many talents!) Jo Pond. It’s our final blog in our series which has been released throughout 2018. This series is all about showcasing some of the amazing women who have supported, inspired and been part of Saloukee’s 10 year story in business.
Today we are speaking with Jo Pond who is studio jeweller and is also employed as a part-time lecturer at the School of Jewellery. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a member of Contemporary Applied Arts in London.
Our #ProjectWabiSabi month nine showcase is all about tin. This is the material which marks the tenth wedding anniversary. This year for us is all about celebrating our 1-10 years in business. So during December, I will also be making a tin design of my own. Plus recommending other brilliant independents who work in the same medium.
The Background
I first met Sarah at Loughborough University. I was working as a technician on the Silversmithing and Jewellery Degree and Sarah was a very studious student! I had studied on the same course some years before. Sarah actually sat at my old bench, clearly a special place! It was super to watch the beginnings of Sarah’s passion for paper evolving.
After Loughborough I took a year out to study my masters and I now work as a Senior Lecturer at the School of Jewellery in Birmingham. I was full time for 8 years. More recently I decided I needed more time to be creative and now spend two days a week in my purpose-built studio at home.
What’s your greatest professional accomplishment to date?
I think my greatest professional accomplishment to date has to be my two solo shows. I created ‘Intimate’ which launched at Velvet da Vinci in San Francisco in 2015. Later it toured to Atta Gallery in Bangkok and then CAA in London.
I launched ‘Rationed‘ at the School of Jewellery in Birmingham this January and it toured to LA Joaillerie by Mazlo in Paris in May. There are more plans for the future underway which you will find updated information about here. Completing a body of work to make a cohesive exhibition which moves its audience is probably one of my biggest achievements.
Women In Business
Is there one piece of advice that you would give to someone thinking of starting their own creative business?
I would say that you have to love what you are doing. It will be a long, tough journey, with small rewards at the beginning. You have to enjoy the journey and if you enjoy and believe in what you create, then others will too.
How has running your business changed in the time you’ve been involved in the industry?
I am new to business again, having been teaching full-time for a number of years. Having now returned to business I think that there are many new challenges. You have to be good at so many things now It’s no longer just about the making. There’s website building, social media marketing, photography and photo editing…
Can you name a female role model (alive/dead) that you believe future generations should know about?
What’s your favourite material to work with and are there any you’d still love to explore?
Real Life Stuff
Being creative is not a given and striving for happiness in life is food for creativity. Giving space to being creative is important to my happiness, whether that space is fruitful or only thoughtful.
What’s the most sentimental object that you own and why?
I have many objects which I love, the most sentimental is a challenge. I think it could be a jewel, possibly the diamonds from my two grandmother’s engagement rings, now re-made into rings of my own. It might be a poem that was written about me on an old paper bag. Perhaps a painting by a dear friend, or a love letter from my young niece….
Priceless to me means irreplaceable. It’s nothing to do with value. It’s a treasured moment, a wonderful unforgettable quote or an object that you can’t bear to be parted from.