Yve Speight Jewellery

The making of this jewellery began as a means of using Art Deco buckles, together with finding a use for all the broken pieces which inevitably mount up when dealing in vintage costume jewellery. The maker’s mark was introduced so that no one could claim that the necklaces were actually 20’s and 30’s pieces; though some have appeared since then minus their tags and claiming vintage status!

As she travels a great deal, Yve uses every opportunity to gather interesting and eye-catching findings and centrepieces, including modern materials in glass and metal. Yve has made several visits to the famous glass works in Murano to buy glass leaves, beads and drops that are used in her work; friends who accompany her on their visits to Venice are used to having to scramble through troughs full of beads looking for matching pairs or sets. There is a quiet irony (satisfaction) in seeing dealers from abroad buying pieces made from parts found in their own homelands.

Inspiration for the designs originates in the materials themselves. Yve often forms ideas for a piece, part-constructs it and then leaves it for some time, passing her eye over it occasionally until she is convinced of its viability as a finished piece before she completes it. There are times when the solution to a design problem occurs at an inconvenient time and there are many sketches on scraps of paper in which these are noted.

One of Yve’s fundamental principles is that if she doesn’t find the piece pleasing then it isn’t put up for sale. Her eye for line and balance is clearly illustrated in the collection of her jewellery, and attention to detail, colour and style is her hallmark. On a number of occasions pieces that just haven’t quite worked have been dismantled and the parts reused in other, more successful, endeavours.

Yve never makes pieces to order and no two pieces are identical. The closest a potential customer gets to instruction is to say “I like a particular piece and could you make something in a similar vein?”

Although the majority of jewellery has been sold in Great Britain, Yve also has customers in Ireland, Italy, Australia, Belgium, Spain and the USA.