With Valentine's Day approaching, love being generally in the air and being part of a creative couple I got to wondering how many others were out there and put a call out to the Folksy folk to see if any couples fancied sharing the love and a glimpse of their creativity.
First up Sian Bostwick and Fred Wyver who have been together for three years and met whilst studying for a BA in silversmithing and jewellery. Both Sian and Fred create jewellery and Fred also works as a Graphic Designer.
On their work:
Sian - -->
I am constantly designing and making, I feel very passionate about this. I really enjoy investigating the interplay of materials, form and colour particularly though a mix of materials like titanium and silver to create unique pieces. Titanium is one of my favourite materials to work with, it has so many possibilities to create truly individual pieces. I also really enjoy learning new jewellery craft skills both new and traditional, one of these skills I really enjoy is delicate and detailed hand piercing. All my Jewellery is designed and carefully handcrafted by me in my workshop in Rochester which I share with Fred.
My designs are all original and I am influenced by a predominantly fashion focused design approach inspired by illustration, fairytales, myths and dreamscape as well as the beauty around me to create both high impact and commercial pieces with quirky, individual, dreamy and playful feel.
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Fred - Compared to Sian's work mine is clearly masculine. I have a bad habit of over conceptualising things, but at my best my work is designed around the qualities of the materials and the techniques and traditional processes of the craft. My style is heavily influenced by the industrial world, ranging from dirty weathered steel to more modern precision engineering aesthetics. While I have made traditional jewellery pieces in the past I have more of an emotional link to work that edges away from jewellery.
Ring and Necklace by Sian Bostwick, Glasses by Fred Wyver
On their workspace:
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Fred put together our workshop space in our spare bedroom, which houses a two person work bench and what tools we need and can safely and practically use in a terraced house. Besides the work bench the largest tool we have here is a home made draw bench for drawing down lengths of wire. It spends most of its time propped up against a wall to save on space.
On collaborating:
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Fred -We haven't directly collaborated, however we constantly discuss our design work, bouncing ideas off each other and drawing on each others technical knowledge to solve problems. Which has proved very helpful to us both.
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Sian- I have found this especially brilliant whilst I was still studying, it stoped me getting to into my own head and to have someone else who has the same design education, taste and style has been really helpful.
In the future we hope to operate a shop together, no doubt this will involve a variety of collaborative projects as well as our individual work and other artists, but nothing concrete yet.
On having a creative partner and how that influences their work:
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Sian-I don’t have a creative family background so living with a highly creative person like Fred means that for the first time I can be truly comfortable, happy and express my creative instincts.
Fred- I come from a heavily creative family, so I tend to imagine that everyone thinks that way. I doubt I could find enough common ground with a non-creative person to justify a relationship. That said, I love having a girlfriend who gets as excited as me about buying new tools!
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My work has changed only in as much as I don't get to do as much, I work full time as a graphic designer which restricts my making time. My priorities have certainly changed however, while I was studying I rarely considered the commercial side of my work, and despite still tending to design things that I basically want for myself, I try to do so in a way that opens up the possibility of actually earning enough to quit the day job.
Sian- I am much more responsible and a real motivation to get my business endeavour to work so Fred can quite his day job and join me . Living with a creative person has also meant that our home feels really creative with interesting artwork everywhere and vastly overflowing bookcases which befits us both.
Many thanks to Sian and Fred and all the best for the future!
