For much of her adult life, Clare Maiden worked in the fast-paced world of marketing and communications. However, a chance enrolment on an evening class in jewellery-making ignited a creative awakening. What began as a casual hobby quickly snowballed into a passion that was nothing short of transformative, prompting Clare to trade her corporate attire for a jeweller’s bench, a move to the Cornish coast, a degree from the Birmingham School of Jewellery, numerous industry accolades and a signature elegant style that translates the organic into the classic.

Clare set up a studio overlooking the Cober Valley and now walks the beach with her dog, drawing inspiration from the rippling waves and ever-varied weather. Using computer-aided design (CAD),  lost wax casting and delicate grain setting, the Wave collection translates the fluid beauty of the ocean into timeless jewellery made from sustainable materials. Her unique vision and craftsmanship earned her a spot in Shine 2024, the Goldsmiths' Centre's prestigious exhibition celebrating emerging talent in the jewellery industry as well as a coveted GC&DC Silver Award for Fine Commercial Jewellery Design.

Back to my creative roots
My career in jewellery is a return to design over thirty years after I started. Initially, I was an art director at an advertising agency and then I worked in marketing, events management and internal communications. I discovered jewellery quite by accident. I was a bit bored and looking for some mental stimulus, decided to take an evening class. Jewellery was a random choice, but I absolutely loved it - it got me hooked! I started wirework before moving on to silver jewellery, making pieces and wearing them to work. The people in my office began complimenting my work, which encouraged me to begin making pieces for them and soon I was running lunchtime stalls, doing craft fairs and had an Etsy shop. After a few years of doing this, I still felt imposter syndrome. I knew I’d be more confident if I were a trained goldsmith, so I went to the School of Jewellery in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter, initially to do an HND, but stayed on to do a BA in Jewellery and Silversmithing - Design for Industry.

We sold our house to help pay the uni fees and moved somewhere much smaller, setting up studio with the most beautiful view out over the Cober Valley, about three miles from the coast in South West Cornwall. Although I got into jewellery-making randomly, it’s my new career and it makes me really happy. I was the only one at school to do art at A-Level, but then I went on to do a science degree because I thought it was the right thing to do. So, it shows that sometimes you should just follow your heart and do what feels natural to you, not what you think is the ‘right’ thing to do. I discovered that a bit later in life.

In terms of understanding client briefs and getting inside a client’s head, my previous career has been beneficial. Once you’ve been doing it for a few years, it’s ingrained in you to think from the customer's point of view. It’s actually quite important and it’s not something that necessarily comes naturally to everybody. Before training formally, I was focused on the making of the jewellery, but now it’s more about designing pieces that people will want to wear. I understand what feels comfortable and what doesn't even though it might look amazing, what's practical and what might catch on your clothes - and I bring all of that into my design approach. Learning about computer-aided design (CAD) has opened up a whole new area of jewellery design that I didn't even know existed and I’ve applied that to my current Wave collection.

Inspired by the coast
I would describe my designs as embodying an understated elegance - confident pieces for independent individuals. Instead of focusing on colour, I emphasise contrast and texture to define form, using gemstones and diamonds as subtle accents to highlight specific details. My inspiration is deeply rooted in my surroundings. Since moving to Cornwall, the sea has become a major source of inspiration. Spending hours walking my dog on the beach and along the coastal paths, I’m struck by how te ever-changing sea, influenced by different weather conditions, mirrors our moods and struggles. When life is going smoothly, the sea is calm and beautiful; when struggles arise, it becomes stormy and tumultuous. This metaphor resonates with the way women stay afloat and support those around them.

Capturing a feeling
I take lots of photographs but it’s often not the actual image that leads to a design - rather the feeling that goes with it. For me, it’s all about how wearing a piece of jewellery makes you feel - how it fits and the sensation when you touch or fiddle with it. Like the feeling you get sitting by the coast on a lovely sunny day, when the sea looks like ripples of velvet or silk; dark blue with turquoise accents. That sense of calm when, just for a moment you feel you may actually have your life under control, is what I evoke through the pieces in the Wave collection - so that when people wear them they feel an innate, unassuming confidence. The pieces are understated, they're not shouty or blingy and they can be worn with anything from jeans and a T-shirt, through to an evening dress or a suit.

The pieces in the Wave collection capture the movement of waves rolling in, gathering speed and height until they reach their peak just before they break. As those waves creep forward across the sand, at the very last point, when their momentum is fading just before they sink into the sand, a line of bubbles is revealed - a little sparkle of light in the sunshine - catching sight of that sparkle is such an uplifting and happy moment. It’s that sense of movement and subtle sparkle that defines the form and characteristics of pieces in the Wave collection, echoed with an arc of diamonds or gemstones.

Sustainable and ethical craftsmanship
The collection is available in both silver and gold, and with diamonds or coloured gemstones like sapphires and aquamarines. I personally believe that you can't call a piece ‘fine’ jewellery if in its production, it’s harmed the health and well-being of people or the planet - that’s not fine to me! I like to work with ethically sourced and sustainably produced materials wherever I can, including lab-grown diamonds and ocean diamonds, client’s wishes dependant. I also choose to work with either Fair Trade or recycled metals and manage my studio as sustainably as I can.

Some of my favourite pieces
The Wave collection includes bangles, earrings and rings together with more unusual items to allow people to explore different ways to wear fine jewellery.

I love the way the sweeping profile of the rings follows the curves of your finger, snuggling in and allowing them to stack so beautifully. They're so versatile - you can wear them on their own or stacked together, with the combination of the sapphires, topaz and aquamarines echoing crashing waves. I also love the way the bangle sits so naturally on the wrist, following the contours of the hand.

I wear a lot of scarves and there are so few really good accessories available to keep a scarf in place out there, that I decided to design one, and then scarf to go with it! I love the scarf ring because it’s so unusual and distinctive. Quite a bit of research went into the design of the hairpin - how tight it needs to be to grip hair and the form to enable it to sit comfortably following the curve of the head. Set with diamonds, the hairpin is fine jewellery for your hair with its juxtaposing frosted and polished textures accentuating its form.

Quality through design
The simpler a piece of jewellery is, the better quality the finish has to be because any flaws will stand out. The collection is beautifully polished and accented with grain-set gemstones - each stone hand-set with between three and five tiny grains holding them securely, yet smoothly, so there’s nothing to catch on clothes.

Rather than the traditional design technique of sketching, I took lots of photographs. Waves are all about lines and once I had the form I wanted, I used a modelling software to manipulate, stretch and twist those lines to create a feeling of movement of water - a bit like moulding and playing with putty, before I looked at incorporating stones.

The pieces are 3D printed in wax and then cast in precious metals using the traditional lost wax method, before a lot of careful sanding and polishing by hand to reveal that beautiful surface. Hollowing out some of the pieces slightly removes some of the weight, making them more comfortable to wear.

Modern classics
The Wave collection appeals to those with their own innate sense of style - classic, individual and stylish in its own right, yet very versatile and comfortable to wear. Wearability is right at the top of the list for me - if you don't feel comfortable wearing something, you won't wear it no matter how lovely it looks. My clients are often busy professional women, juggling careers, commitments and families who need their clothes and jewellery to multi-task as much as they do, investing in modern classics they can wear year in and year out and change up to suit the occasion.