7 minute read
Meet the Jewellery Maker: Nigel O'Reilly
Master goldsmith and high jewellery designer Nigel O’Reilly sits down with Emma Henderson to chat about about his luxury cosmic-inspired work, why a stone’s beauty is so important and being inspired by Japanese painting techniques.
Nigel O’Reilly doesn’t think of his work in terms of carats or the size, weight or cost of gemstones. Instead, he says, “I just look for beauty in stones.”
To him, it’s about the aesthetic of the piece, the connection to the stones and the overall enjoyment of the finished piece that he’s spent months working on – not about the perceived value of the gems. “I absolutely love emeralds. They’re very expensive stones, but I don’t like them because they’re expensive. I love them for the deep green and the mesmerising way you can look at them. When you get that top quality emerald, it’s an almost spiritual experience to look at it,” he says. It’s his approach to his cosmic-inspired work that’s full of colour, intricate metal work and fluidity that he’s become world-renowned for.
Yet a career in jewellery wasn’t what Nigel ever saw himself working in. His severe dyslexia meant school was just about making it to the end, and he didn’t want to go into further education. Instead, he worked as a precision engineer making injection molds for vascular surgical products in Galway, which unexpectedly became integral to Nigel’s goldsmith work and even added to his distinctive style. “It has been an absolute blessing to have that career beforehand. I didn’t think it at the time though, as I would have loved to have left school and gone straight into a more arty, creative scene… though it really taught me discipline.” In his workshop, he blends his technical experience with tradition and uses medical grade microscopes alongside ancient goldsmith tools passed between masters that are more than 200 years old.
It wasn’t until he met his wife Tracy, an artist, that he realised his own creativity after he began making her rings using the molds at his engineering job. She encouraged him to see that becoming a jewellery maker was a career for him, giving him the creative outlet he so desperately wanted. After realising “I had a flair for it, I wanted to train and become the best,” says Nigel. And he’s never stopped. He’s now both a master goldsmith and high-designer making his own jewellery. “I love designing it knowing that I’m going to make it. I love having the gold dust on my hand,” he says.
When it comes to his inspiration, it seems to be never ending and all-encompassing around him. “What I want to do with my work is to see how far you can push the idea of nature to a different level,” he says. “I love David Bowie. I love Nine Inch Nails. I love Alexander McQueen. I love all these different things, so I’m trying to incorporate living in the West Coast with an almost alien-like feeling that you get from listening to those people or watching those fashion shows and mixing in traditional techniques,” he says.
Nigel says this is evident in his piece 'Suminagashi', a vivid blue brooch made with titanium (printed by a medical company from his engineering days) that’s floating on a sea of different sized diamonds, with a pear-shaped emerald (the most beautiful he’s ever seen), which he says the rest of the piece flows from, and is topped with a two-carat diamond. It’s inspired by Dutch couture designer Iris Van Herpen’s work, who used suminagashi, a Japanese painting technique. It translates to ‘ink on water’, and it was that look of ink sprawling across water that Nigel wanted to create with this piece.
The client wanted the piece to be organic. “Out of nowhere, this thing popped into my head, which was ‘futuristic organic’. I know that’s not a real thing, but it was going to be organic on a different planet, like Bowie and The Man Who Fell to Earth,” he says.
After living and working around Europe, from Antwerp to Stockholm, Nigel’s now based in County Mayo – but he was told by many in the industry that moving his business there would be “an absolute death sentence” for his career where “everybody’s attitude is that you have to be in the major city to make fine jewellery.” Yet, he had faith it would work, as the mantra of the highly acclaimed master goldsmith he trained under, Erwin Springbrunn, was “if you concentrate on your art, people will make the pilgrimage and come to you.”
That’s exactly what happened, and now his business is thriving. Nigel’s clients travel to him from all over the world, including the Cayman Islands, Canada and Texas, which are just a few recent customers he lists off. “It’s a huge source of pride for me that I’m bringing a little bit of business to this small town.
“It’s really amazing that they make this journey, this pilgrimage, to me,” he says. And in return, he hand-delivers his finished work to each client. His work is also sold at Sotheby’s New York auction house, making him the first Irish jeweller to do so, and has been worn by celebrities like Golden Globe-winning Irish actor, Saoirse Ronan.
Set against the breathtaking backdrop of rolling hills and lush landscapes, the stunning Ashford Castle showcases its rich history and opulent rooms, while the grand Adare Manor invites guests to indulge in world-class luxury amidst its beautifully manicured gardens – where every moment feels like a fairytale.
Many of his clients making the pilgrimage to Nigel stay at the nearby five-star country estate hotel, Ashford Castle – where Nigel is also the resident jeweller and has some work in the hotel's boutique – or the grand Adare Manor that's slightly nearer Limerick. The Dream Escape team can arrange stays at both hotels and from either, guests can take a day trip to Nigel's atelier (also arranged by Dream Escape), which he has based on how luxury fashion and jewellery houses used to be when everything was made in one building and clients could see the workshop and items being made.
Nigel actively encourages clients to try on jewellery: “I think everyone should see how it fits as our neck bones are all different and every pendant will sit slightly differently, every ring and earring will be different. People try on almost every single piece when they’re here – it’s a full experience.”
For those looking to commission a piece, it’s a great way for Nigel to get to know them.
“I love that connection, because then I really get to know the person, and I can design with them in mind.”
For him, his work is all about creating something that’s different, as he’s tired of seeing the high street’s jewellery shops practically merge into one. “Now everything is the same – where’s the fun in that?” he says. Instead, he wants to create pieces of art. “I’ve deliberately kept my company small, and deliberately only show in New York or LA, and only once a year,” he explains.
It’s an experience that Nigel thinks is becoming a bygone part of creativity. He wants the buying experience to be a homage to all the passion that’s gone into the making of the piece, believing “it’s not just an object” that you’re buying either. It should have a memory attached to it that you can look back on fondly and can be transported back to wherever it is that you bought it. For his customers, with the help of Dream Escape, that’s now the wild coast of County Mayo.
Words | Emma Henderson
