Hello, I’m Poppy Porter the artist behind all the work on this site. I love jewellery, making it, wearing it and matching what I make with the right woman to wear it.
Jewellery can make a difference in how you feel about your body image in a surprising way. It can be the difference between “Meh…” when you look in the mirror and a confident “I’m ready”. Jewellery goes beyond superficial decoration. It can be a powerful keeper of memory, an amulet and an emotional anchor in tough times. Think about your jewellery, why are you wearing it? How does it make you feel?
How My Synaesthesia and Music Inspire My Jewellery
My jewellery springs from my love of music. I channel the energy and emotion of music through my synaesthesia to make unconventional jewellery. My synaesthesia takes the form of seeing sound. I have a strong visual impression of shape, colour, movement and sometimes texture when I listen to music.
I graduated from art college in 2007, but consequently, it took me half a decade after that to master the skill of drawing what I saw in my synaesthesia. What you see here is the continuation of my pursuit of the extraordinary in music and jewellery.
What I Do
Making bespoke jewellery is a large part of what I do. I love to take a piece of jewellery that no longer meets your needs and transform it into something you will treasure and wear. I can take inspiration for your new jewel from your favourite song or another source close to your heart. To have jewellery that compliments you and has real meaning gives you strength. That is what I am all about.
The moment much of the jewellery you see here began life was a colourful explosion at a live music event, this blog post describes that event and will give you a real sense of how it feels to be synaesthetic: How Vivid Synaesthesia and Muse Live Briefly Disintegrated My Conscious Mind.
When I make jewellery using my synaesthesia is a big part of my creative life. I talk more about how I use what I see in the music I love in these posts: When I Listen To Matt Bellamy’s Swirling Guitar Playing My Forged Silver Jewellery Takes On Its Metaphysical Shape.” and “Four Ways I Invite Chaos into My Creative Process Eliminating Failure and Making My Jewellery More Authentic as a Result.”
Achievements
I have been an artist jeweller for over 15 years. During that time, I have worked on a variety of exciting projects and commissions. I have worked closely with museums internationally. I have designed a collection for the British Museum’s exhibition, “Shunga: Sex and Pleasure in Japanese Art”. One of my larger necklaces is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. I have exhibited internationally with galleries in Italy, Germany, the UK, USA and China. I have completed commissions for many private contemporary jewellery collectors and even painted a cow for the Mayor of Guildford during the Surrey Cow Parade.
Skills
I want to make the most unusual jewellery of the highest quality. In pursuit of that, over the last decade and a half, I have acquired and practised many skills to develop my jewellery making. The skills central to that are; imagining, drawing and designing, forging, forming and fabrication in precious metals, stone setting in unusual ways, airbrushing and hand engraving. I believe in lifelong learning and investment in my skillset is always rewarded in the quality of what I make.
What I Am On Earth To Do
So this is all me, what I was put on earth to do. I love music and my unusual relationship with it. I want to make jewellery like my favourite musicians make music; hence glorious, a little dark, a bit weird, but embracing, energising, glamorous, layered and complex…
I want you to be able to take a piece of my jewellery full of this energy, add your story to it and strengthen yourself with it.
