Marianne Anderson loves books. Working her way between historical and technical sourcebooks and her own sketchbook, she teases out ideas of traditional ornamental forms and what makes them meaningful. Glasgow seems then the perfect place in which to base herself, a city steeped in decorative arts traditions and famous institutions including the Glasgow School of Art where she studied.
Marianne Anderson – Brocade Brooch
She is captivated by classic forms, and uses her balanced and elegant pieces to contemplate the continuing human fascination for adornment. She states that her interest is “rooted in how we learn and draw from the past and return frequently to designs, motifs and patterns of historic and symbolic significance…. Sometimes ideas for my pieces come quite easily and other times they are a long laborious process involving model making, samples etc and continued returns to the drawing board.”
Marianne Anderson – Brocade Pattern Necklace
Marianne Anderson – Brocade Pattern Necklace (detail)
She works in a very restrained palette of oxidised silver, rubies, pearls and gold with traditional jewellery techniques, and her pieces are sophisticated and precise with a delicious sense of balance. Her current range of work is based on damask patterns and wrought iron, using a combination of etching and enamel on the silver’s surface to produce the patterns.
Marianne Anderson – Embossed Quatrefoil Earrings
Marianne Anderson – Pearl Swirl – Long earrings
Drawing and making have always come naturally to her. As a child, she says she drew on any available surface – much to the distress of her parents I am sure! “A lot of my parents’ books at home still bear my pen marks”, and particularly remembers drawing pictures of her pets across several pages of a dictionary.
“I always wanted to go to Art school – I don’t think I ever considered any other career path as a child. It took me a couple of years to decide on jewellery, but it has proved perfect as it combines my love of designing and making.”
Marianne Anderson – Round Garnet Ring
Marianne Anderson – Round Pearl Ring
Completing her degree in 2003, Marianne says she was lucky enough to picked up by a couple of galleries off the back of her degree show, and hit the ground running. She spent what spare time she had to research and develop the business side of her craft so she could make her jewellery into a continuing and viable business.
Although she admits that of course there are always pieces and processes that don’t go as planned, she firmly states that the positives of being able to do what she loves every day far outweighs everything else.
Marianne Anderson – Vignette Brooch
Marianne Anderson – Vignette Swirl Brooch
You can find more of Marianne’s jewellery on her website, www.marianneanderson.co.uk.