Retrospective Jewellery

Retrospective Jewellery is designer Danielle Underwood. Danielle’s elegant gold- and silver-plated earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings feature strong lines and angular shapes but are totally flat in perspective, a bit like wearable drawings.

Danielle graduated from The Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design in 2010 with a degree in jewellery design. She worked as an in-house designer for various companies until deciding in 2015 to give it a shot on her own, which she says was; “the best decision I ever made!” She now works from her studio at home in Old Amersham in London, with a staff of interns.

Danielle draws inspiration from historical architecture, antiques, textiles and prints. She’s heavily influenced by the bold geometric shapes of art deco architecture; and the ornamental styling and fluid curves in Art Nouveau posters and paintings.

The process from original design to final production can take a while (up to five months) but Danielle launches two collections a year - Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter - in two different media, laser-cut brass and cast sterling silver.

First she sketches with pencil and then realises her designs on her computer. A huge fan of the laser cutter “I love the lines that it can create…there is nothing else like it!” brass pieces are cut, filed, matt-polished and plated in gold or silver. The sterling silver and vermeil is cast and then plated – although she was keen to laser-cut silver she discovered that the temperatures involved in the process warped the designs. Experiencing her vision as a finished product is “magical”, she says.

Retrospective Jewellery is chic and effortlessly wearable.