13/02/2026
I had to have a quiet word with myself at the bench today… and honestly, it led to a bit of a light bulb moment about my little identity wobble with the name Trash Jewellery.
While I was working, I found myself thinking back to where it all actually began, lockdown days, when the world felt very small and the surf became my escape. Beach cleans were one of the only reasons to get outside and I started collecting the rubbish I found… until I began noticing the sea glass scattered along the shore.
Those first pieces completely inspired me.
I didn’t have fancy tools back then, just a dremel. I’d drill little holes through the glass, thread them onto leather cord instead of chain and make pieces out the back of the van I was living in at the time. It was simple, raw and completely fuelled by curiosity and love for the ocean.
What really stuck with me then and still does now is that sea glass isn’t a naturally occurring stone. It exists because of a long history of waste being dumped into our seas, long before recycling centres and proper waste systems existed. Time, tide and salt reshaped that trash into something beautiful.
And that’s exactly where the name came from.
These days, there are a lot of people making sea glass jewellery, so much so that sea glass has almost become like a precious stone in its own right. You go to a beach now and there are a million heads down searching the tide line.
And I love that… because it means people value it.
But Trash was never just about the jewellery.
It’s the ethos behind it
The message it carries
The conservation and beach cleaning that happens quietly behind the scenes
Trash was never about being throwaway, it was about transformation. Turning what was discarded into something treasured.
I may have grown in style and technique since those early van bench days… I’ve added new materials, refined my making and evolved my designs BUT the fundamentals haven’t changed.
Everything is still consciously sourced or recycled.
Even down to my packaging.
And I suppose that connection runs even deeper now, because when I’m not at my bench, I’m working offshore protecting marine life in the very environments that inspire my work. The sea isn’t just where my materials come from… it’s where my purpose sits too.
So I guess today was a reminder that I haven’t outgrown the name at all… if anything, I’ve grown deeper into what it stands for.
From beach cleans to bench work and out to sea again the story is still the same.
Protect what you love..
🌊💙🌊
