Glasgow maker to take part in Scotland’s Elements Festival of Jewellery

Kelda Young handcrafts unique contemporary jewellery and objects using recycled precious metals.

Kelda’s interest in sustainability developed while she was studying at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, Dundee, which is a signatory of the Scottish Goldsmiths Trust’s Ethical Making Pledge.

Now, she is due to take part in Scotland’s Elements Festival of Jewellery, Silver and Gold, which will feature award-winning pieces from the Goldsmiths' Craft & Design Council (GC&DC) competition, known as the “Jewellery Oscars”.

Kelda Young will take part in Scotland’s Elements Festival of Jewellery, Silver and Gold

Kelda said: “I went to a talk about ethical making and how using recycled material could help with sustainability, reduce exploitation and child labour.

“I didn’t want to contribute to things like that, so it seemed like a no brainer to me.”

Kelda became a student ambassador for the Ethical Making Pledge.

Due to COVID, Elements will be the first opportunity Kelda has had to display her bold, contemporary jewellery at a show in Scotland.

Kelda looks to her own fragmented memories for inspiration, abstracting forms and elements to create compositions.

Her work celebrates the contrast and harmonies found between nature and the manmade world, often combining bold, striking shapes with intricate, organic details.

The connection to material and the physical process of making is essential to the success of her work, which allows for an intuitive approach to making and designing.

Organised by The Scottish Goldsmiths Trust, the festival showcases some of the finest established and emerging UK-based designer-makers.

This year, it will feature a stunning array of jewellery, silver and gold from 47 designers and makers from Scotland and the rest of the UK.

From left: Jeweller Lynne MacLachlan, from Bishopton, jeweller Caitlin Hegney, from Helensburgh, and jeweller and silversmith Kelda Young, from Glasgow, will all take part in the Scottish jewellery festival.

After two years when Elements was largely digital, the partners today announced its return to being a three-day, in-person event featuring a major exhibition and selling fair.

The exhibition will see award-winning pieces from the Goldsmiths' Craft & Design Council (GC&DC) competition, known as the “Jewellery Oscars”, showcased in Scotland for the first time.

Alongside spectacular examples of Cartier and Goldsmiths' Company Award winners, there will also be a display of drawings and jewels to celebrate the vision, skill and extraordinary legacy of GC&DC Lifetime Achievement Award winner, the late Dorothy Hogg MBE.

Elements will run from 28-30 October and takes place in Lyon & Turnbull’s historic HQ in Edinburgh’s Broughton Place.

Ebba Goring, Chief Executive of the Scottish Goldsmiths Trust, said: “It’s great to be able to announce that the eighth Elements festival will be a return to an in-person event after two digital years.

“There’s nothing quite like the buzz of being in Lyon & Turnbull’s historic saleroom and seeing the incredible jewellery and silver produced by some of the very finest designers and makers in the UK.

“We also think it’s important to have a showcase here in Scotland where makers and designers can share their work, and where the public can see and buy pieces of every conceivable kind from all over the UK.”

Ruth Davis, Head of Jewellery and Silver at Lyon & Turnbull, said: “Like everyone else, we are excited to be inviting the makers back for the first in-person Elements Festival in two years.

“It is so exciting to create such a hub of contemporary design, creativity and craftsmanship in our iconic saleroom.

“A real showcase of the best of UK jewellery and silversmithing in the heart of Edinburgh’s historic New Town.”