Sia Taylor

Sia Taylor, one of the first designers featured at WHITEbIRD, embodies the poetic essence and the craftsmanship's beauty, core values cherished by Stéphanie Roger since the creation of the Maison in 2010.

A sculptor by training, SiaTaylor lives in England where she creates light and delicate jewellery with a painterly approach, utilizing a now-signature palette of precious metals. She crafts her pieces using ancient, precise techniques in a nearly meditative creative process amidst the tranquility of the Somerset countryside. On the occasion of the trunkshow "Golden Seed" this spring 2024, we had the opportunity to ask her a few questions...

1. Could you tell us about your background and your journey? How are you connected to jewellery-making?
I started making jewellery while I was studying for a masters in sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London. I had already done a degree in Fine Art, and although I had things I knew I needed to express, neither painting or sculpture where good for me. So, while I was working on sculpture by day, I went to night school to learn some basic jewellery techniques – cutting, soldering and so on.
I’ve always been drawn to tiny precious things. Creating jewellery and working with precious metals allows me to transform natural sensations into tangible structures – miniature works of art that can be worn on the body.

2.You're one of the first designers presented at WHITEbIRD (almost 13 years!), how did you meet Stéphanie?
Stephanie first encountered my work in a showroom she was visiting in the months before White Bird opened. She was there to view another designers work , but happened to see mine by chance.
She ordered it for the store, and it wasn’t until some months later that we met in person on a beautiful sunny day at a little cafe in London!

3. What goes through your mind when you create a piece of jewelry? Where do you draw your inspiration from?
When I started making jewellery, I thought I had a central idea of beauty and what a beautiful piece of jewellery could be. And it wasn't a conventional idea of jewellery.

It's always been a more dreamt-up idea. Can I make something that's like this? Can I make something like that? Can I make something like a wave crashing around your wrist? Rather than the approach of, how can I set this stone? So, it's a different sort of process.

 Inspiration can be a sensation like wind in the leaves or catching dust or it can be words – a phrase in a book or lyrics in a song that become the starting point for a collection. Little magical ideas of what it would be like to wear a collar of petals or to grab a rainbow and wear it around your neck.

4. What's your creative process? What was the first piece you created?
I draw and I write what I imagine. It’s often quite abstract and it’s not always possible to make exactly what I’m thinking of.

 I start with scissors and paper or thin silver sheet and just cut and shape out little arrangements. I draw the pieces in quite an abstract way, trying to capture the essence of the idea. My partner Neil who is an artist often helps with the process by making beautiful drawings of the things I’m describing in words.

 My first pieces which were tiny little branches and seeds and leaves made in the only way I knew – cutting and bending and melting wire into miniature organic forms. 

I realised the most interesting bit of those pieces were the tiny seed like dots – and I started playing with just those – limiting the language to the size of the dots, colour of the dots, and arrangement of the dots. I’m still doing that now more than 10 years later – endless possibilities!

5. Your jewellery reflects the sounds of nature and the infinitely small; what inspired you to create such art works?
I love the idea of trying to capture fleeting moments and turn them into something you can wear – leaves shimmering in the morning light, catching raindrops in your hand.
I think training in painting and sculpture rather than jewellery allows me to visualise these things and craft them in gold, creating tiny precious artworks.
Something that I always used to think about was that the finished piece would give you a sense of something. It gives you a slight, almost like a bit of Deja Vu or undefined; I didn't want the pieces to be literal. I wanted it to provide a feeling of that, like a sensation, or it reminds you of something, but you need to figure out what that feeling is.

6. Do you have a particular attachment to any piece of jewellery?
I have a little collection of beautiful pieces from other designers who have become friends, and I have a very special Himba necklace that my husband brought back for me from his travels, as well as some jewellery my father gave me.

7. Metals evoke emotions. What touches you most about working with them?
I love colour, so initially I began using both yellow and white gold in my pieces, then gradually developed a simple palette of golds which has become a signature of my work. I use the colours much as I would in a painting, instinctively playing with arrangements until I find a balance that reflects the mood of the idea.
The light and movement which can be created with simple gold sheet is magical.

 8. What would you have done if you hadn't become a jewellery designer?
Sing in a band, write words for songs. I am surrounded by music – my son and some of my family, as well as many of my friends are musicians and singers. I love watching and listening as words and sounds and rhythms are layered together to create something so beautiful and emotive. In my work, I often think when I’m working on a new collection that is like creating an album of music – each piece must be distinct, have its own voice, but fit with the  others, create a story. 

9. Who are your favourite artists?
I am drawn to art that looks quietly at the ephemeral and poetic. I don’t have a preference for era or style – just soul and time and quiet contemplation.
Vija Celmins is an artist whose work moves me - drawings that are impossibly detailed, of skies at night, and perfect sculptural reproductions of stones she has picked up. The time and patience is extraordinary.
In jewellery, I am mesmerised by the work of Jo Hayes Ward, I love the concept of working with tiny building blocks repeated over and over to form patterns, and the way her pieces catch the light. Brooke Gregson is another designer whose work I love – the colour and texture she uses are incredible – works of art in gold and gemstones.

10. What advice would you give to an aspiring young designer? How do you see the evolution of the jewellery world?
To not be led by fashion but by your heart – to work with what truly inspires you and create your own visual language... Don’t make things that you can already find out there – you need to have your own unique voice.

11. It's been 15 years since you launched your brand, a milestone we'll celebrate with you this Spring during the "Golden Seeds" trunk show at our Saint-Germain store from March 21 to April 3, 2024. How do you feel looking back on the journey? What have been the major milestones in the development of your brand?
My journey has been slow and steady - in terms of creativity and also in how my business has grown.
My designs have evolved naturally, each collection leading to the next. A tiny element in one collection might become the main story for the next, or sometimes I find the story has not been fully told so we continue working on the same ideas and develop them further.
My journey into colour began in my first collection when I used just yellow and white gold. When I found a small refinery that was willing to make small amounts of different coloured golds for me, I was able to develop the palette of rainbow golds that has now become a signature of my work.This was a significant moment that allowed me to take a more painterly approach to my work.
At around the same time I also began to employ a goldsmith to help me. Her knowledge and skills were far superior to my own, enabling the finished pieces to become so much closer to the ideas in my head, rather than being limited by what I could make with my own two hands.
Over the years, the business has grown organically, and I have been lucky enough to work with some of the best and most beautiful stores around the world, including White Bird, one of the first to stock my jewellery.