INSPIRE: Pursuing a designer dream was no grey area

A JEWLELLERY designer has spoken of how her early years growing up in Moyglare instilled a passion for crafting and how finding her first grey hair spurred her on to follow her dreams. Sarah Carroll Kelly spoke to SALLY HARDING

Sarah Carroll Kelly specialises in contemporary jewellery in bold bright colours made from unpredictable materials such as Birchwood, plywood, brass and clay. The designer has a degree in Sculpture from Limerick College of Art. Following this she worked for twenty years as an artist, designer and musician while completing a Masters lecturing in design. She has just been accepted as a participant on the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland Design Ireland Panel for 2021/2022.

Sarah who now lives in Dublin with her family describes a defining moment in her life when she felt that creating her own jewellery brand “Shock of Grey” was a case of now or never. She said:

“When you get older you decide at certain key points in your life, I’m going to do this next, then you start working in a job and then suddenly you are there ten years and you stop planning what you are going to do next but then sometimes you get a little rude awakening like a flash of grey hair like the clock is ticking so I thought I better do what I really want to do.

“I think all creative people have this burning feeling all of the time that they should be making something and you nearly feel like you are betraying yourself when you don’t fulfil that.”

The talented designer describes the creative process and the inspiration for her statement pieces.

“I studied Fine Art Sculpture in Limerick School of Art & Design in the 90s and I think the making of this jewellery is the miniature manifestation of those skills.

“I take inspiration from the world around me and am like a magpie collecting and keeping things that interest me so I always have a bank of reference material. It could be a vintage book, a piece of modern art, a building and its shapes, a colour combination from a child’s toy.

“I do hand drawings and doodles and they often turn into a shape that becomes an element of my jewellery. I love coming up with colour combinations and get a gut reaction when it hits the mark”

Sarah puts down her passion for creating to her childhood in Moyglare near Kilcloon.

“My mum has this orange fold up picnic table that she got from the green shield stamps it used to be in the corner of the kitchen and that is where I had my paints, my plasticine and I was always making something out of nothing like toilet roll inserts, painting rocks my dad would have off cuts in the sheds that I would sculpture things with.

“My parents were always into making stuff, my mum would have made all of our clothes when we were kids and dad was a carpenter and we had a press in the dining room that my mother still has today called the making press. She had a button box and a making box with the glue, the tapes and the staplers. We thought that was normal but it probably wasn’t!

Sarah admits finding the courage to pursue her passion was the best thing she has ever done.

“It was daunting but also a relief because when you have this idea niggling at you and you finally give into it, it feels right.

“It is a dream come true to do this, I love coming up to work in my studio, all of the textures and the smells, it is a big sensory experience working with my hands and my tools as well I just love it.”

Shock of Grey pieces are stocked online at www.shockofgrey.com and in many retail stores including Constantia in Dunboyne. 

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- Article first appeared in the Inspire pullout in the Meath Chronicle dated 12/06/21

Have you an inspirational story to tell? Contact Sally.Harding @ meathchronicle.ie