Craft Focus - Page number 70 - June/July 2021 (Issue 85)

70 The personal touch Designer Maker, Becca Macdonald, chats to Craft Focus about starting her own business and creating personal keepsakes to keep families close at all times Tell us a little bit about the company. Where are you based? When did the company start? Becca Macdonald Studio was born in 2018 out of the basement studio of my home in the world heritage site of Saltaire; which is also known for Salts Mill, a former textile mill now turned art gallery with an extensive collection by David Hockney. Becca Macdonald Studio is a one-woman venture. Although I have now moved out of Saltaire, I continue to create all of my jewellery by hand from my new home studio in west Yorkshire. What’s your background and why did you start the company? I have always been fascinated with the concept of capturing the evidence of presence. I studied Textile Design at Chelsea College of Art, which I approached with an open mind and enjoyed experimenting with unconventional textile materials – my final showcase was a series of porcelain tiles. Following my degree, I was employed in London design studios and artist’s workshops, assisting in the creation of immersive sculptural installations, furniture and bespoke artworks. But it was an introduction to jewellery making during an evening class which reignited a passion and influenced a change in direction and scale and Becca Macdonald Studio was launched after relocating back to Yorkshire. How has the company evolved? Becca Macdonald Studio began as a real passion project but quickly gained interest from stockists and I was supplying collections for wholesale orders within the first months of business. After one year of trading as a jewellery maker, I was recognised by The National Association of Jewellers as one of six up and coming jewellery designers in the UK and in the same year, was chosen as a finalist in the Professional Jeweller Awards for Young Jewellery Designer of the Year. What do you specialise in? Most notably I work with precious metal clay, which is a magical material that combines recycled silver particles with a natural binder and transforms into solid silver after firing. Talk us through the current kits you’re particularly excited about. I’m really excited about The Personal Touch Jewellery Crafting Kit, Capture Your Own Fingerprint. This is fingerprint jewellery created in your hands and finished in mine. Devised during lockdown, this kit includes everything needed to create up to two silver fingerprint necklaces from the comfort of home. You can use your fingerprint, your little one’s, your significant other’s, your best friend’s, your parents’, your grandparents’... the choice is yours. Of all the billions of people in the world, no two of us will have the same fingerprints,