Meeting the Creatives: Alex Monroe
10 Mar 2020
March sees the start of a new series of interviews with creative individuals from across our industry; we hope that you will find them a source of inspiration as well as information. This Month The Jeweller editor Belinda Morris asks designer Alex Monroe to share his journey.
Belinda: How did you start out? What led you to the jewellery world?
Alex: I was smart at school; not sporty but into music, fashion and art – I ended up in the art room. I also loved making my own clothes and pressing flowers, my best friends were girls, so…
Belinda: … you were a bit different?!
Alex: A bit! I knew I had to get out of the school. At 16 I went to Ipswich Art School and did an art foundation course – all bohemian arty types. Brian Eno went there for instance… it was brilliant. Then, aged about 17 or 18, I hitch-hiked down to London and managed to get a place (with a grant – it was the early 1980s) at Sir John Cass to do jewellery. The course was mainly silversmithing. I was always good at making things, but there was some conflict – I was very anti what the art school establishment was imposing on us.
Belinda: And making and selling jewellery – how did that start?
Alex: To make some money I was making huge earrings, mainly from patinated brass – I had no money to buy precious materials. I sold them to fashion shops in Hampstead and the Kings Road – I just walked in, I’d made no appointment – and asked them if they’d like to sell my jewellery.
I then got the chance to show at the London Designer Collections (you had to be a member) during London Fashion Week – the first collection was inspired by Saxon axes I’d seen in the British Museum. Then it was quirky fish and squid – like you see hanging on lines in Greece. They were highly stylised and, importantly, fashionable.
Belinda: What was the inspiration for what you were making?
Alex: Looking back, there were themes [to what I was doing]: how important fashion was; how important it was to make things that real people would wear and then nature, Britishness and affordability.
These are still my strong beliefs. What’s happening, in an aesthetic sense, cool, creative people pick up on – the vibe of the times – and express it through how they present themselves. It’s a grassroots, real life thing – what they’re doing comes from the world. I fight against the notion that a few ‘superior’ people decide what people should wear. I’m designing for people who buy for themselves largely – it’s proved successful; it’s worked. I can spot someone wearing my jewellery across a crowded restaurant… and I love it!
Belinda: At what point did your large-scale designs become smaller?
Alex: From the start Japanese and New York buyers liked what I was doing. I then showed at Paris Fashion Week where I saw more Japanese buyers. I also travelled to Japan a lot and as a result my pieces became smaller and neater for that market. I like [creating] small things with a strong personality.
Belinda: How did the retail side of your business come about?
Alex: I was always very big in Japan (and still am) but then I turned my attention back to the UK. I’d asked myself: ‘why aren’t I paying attention to my own market?’ I hired more staff and then about 10 years ago I opened a boutique in London Bridge. It was going to be a showroom for buyers, but it looked so nice it became a shop!
Belinda: What is your design ethos today?
Alex: It’s the same as ever – I feel that jewellery is a physical manifestation of an emotion, thought, belief. You wear it next to your skin and it accompanies you through life. It can finish off a look and express how you feel – it’s empowering. And how it’s worn can say a lot about you.
My life’s work has been to take these things seriously, respect the importance that people attach to jewellery and work on this as best I can.
More information?
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Source: The Jeweller - Summer 2020 | Designer Profile