24 Written by Dan Poynton
An accidental jeweller If you peer into a rather unlikely wild garden in the middle of Clapton in London’s East End you might find Hannah Upritchard burrowing around in her little cave-like studio. Looking at the surrounding artifacts and found objects you might ask what in the world she’s up to. Actually Hannah wasn’t quite sure herself until about 11 years ago. ‘I’m an accidental jeweller,’ she laughs. ‘I started making jewellery because I wanted to make myself some wedding rings and I couldn’t afford any I liked.’ The rather bizarre result was a ring bearing an enormous monkey face for her husband Christian – in honour of Hannah’s nickname – and a camel for herself ‘because I think he looks like a camel.’ People started asking her to make them rings, then other things, and
gradually Hannah Rings was born. This ‘accidental jeweller’, who grew up in New Plymouth and Christchurch, says she wanted to become a writer and in those days she never even looked at jewellery let alone wore it. ‘I was quite a dark young person,’ muses Hannah. ’I had a few years when I was cross with the universe and then I got it out of my system with a bit of Russian literature and gender studies.’ Just as she was finishing her final exams at Victoria University she had a mysterious brain haemorrhage. Although this took three months from her life, and still affects her memory, she says it effected a positive shift in her. ‘It made me feel I’m going to live a little bit first and then decide where I’m going and not worry, because there’s no rush to be an adult in this universe,’ she says. So she took off overseas, and since making her own wedding rings she’s gradually picked up the craft from other jewellers, from Rio de Janeiro to Süd Tirol.
‘I’m a little bit of an opportunistic parasite type,’ says Hannah. “Basically I’m like MacGyver – invent it and usually it works.” The young woman who ‘never learnt how to make jewellery’ ended up creating an eclectic range with a personal and extremely flexible character, earthy, quirky and somehow mythical. Often rough round the edges, like Japanese ceramics, and totally instinctive. ‘I get all my inspiration from my gut,’ says Hannah. The ‘bumps, faults and tarnishes’ are as much an essential part of her work as the quality of her materials ‘because life is a bit bumpy and tarnished and I like that when you wear jewellery it actually polishes on you and grows with you.’ Mass-produced ‘Michael Hill eternity bands with huge diamonds’ are not her thing. ‘It just horrifies me, and that’s why I couldn’t find anything to buy for my wedding,’ she says.
