About
Machi is a designer/jeweller who has been working in her studio in Reading, Berkshire for more than 17 years making modernist jewellery in silver and gold. From January 2010 to December 2011, she was Jeweller in Residence at South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell. In 2021, her book, written with fellow jeweller Janet Richardson, Silver Jewellery Making, was published by award-winning craft publisher Search Press. Combining her studio practice with teaching, Machi teaches jewellery making in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Her work is regularly shown at galleries and exhibitions in the UK.
In August 2023, Machi was awarded a Masters in Jewellery and Metal from the prestigious Royal College of Art. At the Royal College of Art, Machi focused on tool making, scoring and deep drawing. Using the scoring skills she learned, Machi made six smallworks as part of her final pieces for the student public exhibition. These scored mini vessels resulted in Machi being chosen by curator Héloïse Parke for the Craft Council as one of the twelve top graduate makers in the UK for 2023, as well as one of the six highlights of the Royal College of Art 2023 show by Rebecca van Rooijen for Benchpeg.
Machi’s work is informed by the visual language of twentieth century modern art. Distilling the abstract forms and clean lines of modern art into her own self-imposed strictly limited palette, Machi’s work focuses on visually and physically strong shapes such as lines and circles. She finds creativity through restraint, making iterations of her chosen shapes and varying details. Machi has a drive towards design that is clean and crisp combined with a desire to push craftsmanship to higher levels. But it’s not all serious: a lightness of touch is present; perhaps an unexpected detail, a spot of optical illusion or a miniature scale to invite approachability. Although Machi’s work uses quite a formal visual language, there’s an edge of playfulness that entices the viewer to come closer, to interact with the pieces. These handmade pieces invite the viewer to handle them, feel their weight, touch their edges and explore their details.
