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Designer Profiles
Gina Cowen came to making sea glass jewellery after extensive travels and a varied career that has included publishing, music management and journalism. Born in Cape Town in 1957, she moved to England via the States, was brought up in Oxford and read English at Cambridge before travelling in Africa and India. Following this she worked in art publishing, as a manager for classical musicians and then as a journalist for the Independent. A growing interest in jewellery led to part time study at the London Guildhall University (John Cass) between 1993 and 1995 and a further year (1998-9) at Camberwell College of Arts in London. Taken by the beauty of what she describes as “these simple, tide tossed luminous pebbles of colour” she decided to specialise in making jewellery from sea glass. Her earliest pieces were inspired by glass picked up on a small stretch of shingle near Cape Town. She now has a large and ever increasing collection of sea glass from around the world - some of which she collects herself, some of which is sent to her by friends. Her first necklaces were bought by the Agete Gallery in Tokyo and The Sea Glass Collection was originally shown in Liberty, London. Gina makes all the pieces herself, including the clasps and settings which are always made from solid silver or 18ct gold. Her collections include necklaces, rings, bracelets, earrings and wonderful cufflinks and have recently expanded to include designs combining sea glass with acquamarines and fluorite droplets, both gemstones that complement the sea glass beautifully. Sea glass comes in a variety of colours, age and textures: from emerald green, sapphire blue, purple amethyst, and amber, it washes up on beaches sand smoothed or sea frosted having travelled the oceans for months and sometimes centuries. These sea glass jewels conjure a sense of captured light and wanderlust when worn. |
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