There is a workshop in Rome where I learned to make jewellery. Pastries and wine for morning tea. No OHS. I was surrounded by people who loved working with their hands as much as I did, and I have not really worked any other way since.

Now I make from my own bench in Sydney, with my dog Freddie on quality assurance.

Everything starts in wax, carved by hand before it is cast in silver or gold. I only make to order, which keeps it slow and means each piece is made for one person.

Most of what I make marks something special, an engagement, a wedding, a stone that has sat in a drawer for years and finally gets worn again.