Laura Nicholson - Jewellery Design
Having always been creative, Laura knew she wanted to do something artistic. A school trip to RGU inspired 18 year old Laura to study an undergraduate BA in Three Dimensional Design at Grays.
She says RGU was the only university she really fell in love with, being impressed with the nature on campus and friendly staff. It was a level of qualification she never thought she'd achieve nor something her family had ever done before. When she applied and got in, she was over the moon, as were her family!
City life initially took a bit of adjusting for Laura who had grown up in the small town of Wick in Caithness but once she was here, she was happy to call it home.
After studying sustainable and ethical design within the design and manufacture industry, Laura wanted to do a MA to prove to herself that she could do it and to expand her work as an undergraduate. Her work as an ethical designer developed and Laura has followed a local, sustainable approach to jewellery design producing a collection of carefully handcrafted, sustainably sourced pine and wood burned rings.
Laura sought to make her jewellery using alternative green power sources, with sustainable and recycled or locally gathered materials whilst reducing her waste. Laura was conscious to keep her carbon footprint down and used small hand tools.
The energy output of each design is measured so people can see how much energy has gone into producing each product and all her pieces are hand finished using varnish from locally sourced beeswax and rapeseed oil. Packaging is fully recyclable and soured from within the UK using recycled card for the boxes and padding.
Laura says has really enjoyed her time at RGU for both her undergraduate and postgraduate course and is sad to be finishing. Despite the pandemic, she felt connected via Zoom and still developed a working and friend relationship, which made a big difference to the past year.
She has always shared her admiration and love for RGU to others. Laura says the creative freedom and support at Gray's School of Art are outstanding. She would recommend it to anyone with a passion for their work or learning.
Looking ahead Laura, who has also always aspired to work with children, wants to steer her career towards the education sector with the aim of becoming a teacher. She will still continue her MA degree practice on a part time basis by selling her work and by producing locally and sustainably produced jewellery.
