PRESS RELEASE: Return to the Wild: Clio Saskia moves her practice to New Zealand

After ten years in London, the award-winning jeweller and sculptor is setting up a new studio on Waiheke Island, surrounded by the wildlife that inspires her work. She will keep her workshop at the Goldsmiths’ Centre.

Clio Saskia is moving to New Zealand to be closer to the natural world that has shaped her jewellery. She is setting up a new studio on Waiheke Island, off the coast of Auckland, where rewilded land of native forest, wetlands and protected bird habitats offers new creatures to watch and new subjects for her work.

Clio trained in contemporary sculpture at Camberwell College of Arts, and she treats jewellery as sculpture in miniature. Her animals do more than sit on the surface of a piece. They wind around fingers and gemstones, climb over ears and settle in unexpected places, which gives fine jewellery a sense of curiosity and playful eccentricity. She carves in wax and casts by the lost-wax method, then uses specialist goldsmithing, engraving and texturing to give each creature its own movement and personality.

“The natural world has always been my first love,” says Clio. “I’m endlessly fascinated by the character of individual creatures — how they move, behave and interact with their surroundings and each other. London has been an extraordinary place to develop my craft and establish my practice, but I’m excited to immerse myself in a new environment, surrounded by nature, and see where that curiosity takes my work.”

Her connection to nature extends to her materials. Before setting up in London, Clio spent time in the Australian gemfields, studying geological maps and digging for sapphires and zircons with hand tools. Many of the stones she found have gone into her jewellery. A vivid red zircon is held in the mouth of her Snake Knuckleduster, a gold snake that weaves across the wearer’s hand. The piece won a Gold Award at the Goldsmiths’ Craft & Design Council Awards.

The move also takes her back to where she started. Early in her career, Clio worked alongside a master jeweller in New Zealand, and that experience laid the foundations of her technical skills. In London she became part of the city’s contemporary fine jewellery community, exhibiting at Goldsmiths’ Fair and founding Trove, a collective that shows contemporary fine jewellery and silversmithing.

Clio’s practice will stay international. She will keep her workshop at the Goldsmiths’ Centre, return to London regularly, and continue to work with collectors and private clients in the UK, Europe, the United States and elsewhere. From Waiheke she will make one-of-a-kind art jewels and sculptural objects, as well as bespoke pieces including engagement and wedding rings. She works with recycled precious metals and responsibly sourced gemstones.

“I’m looking forward to sharing the discoveries and creations that emerge from this next chapter,” she says.

Find out more: cliosaskia.co.uk | Instagram: @cliosaskia