Alison Macleod

Alison set up her business in 2003 after studying Jewellery and Silversmithing at Edinburgh College of Art. Now working from her studio in Glasgow's Merchant City, she designs and makes her jewellery which is exhibited throughout the UK and internationally.

"My local junk shops are a great source of inspiration to me. I find the jumble exhilarating but am equally fascinated by the individual objects themselves. I love to imagine the stories connected to each discarded artefact. The mysterious narratives of peoples' pasts are suggested by the dents and scratches on each piece. The junk shop becomes a museum of memories.

I also reference heirloom jewellery in my work. Jewellery has traditionally been used to keep the memory of a loved one close to the heart. A young Victorian lady keeps a lock of her fiancé's hair in a gold locket in his absence. As time passes the keepsake is passed down from mother to daughter through the generations building layer upon layer of significance.