Tudor Glass Coral Reef is a contemporary interpretation of a type of schätzkammer object that was found in European, 16th and 17th century cabinets of curiosities.

Artist’s statement

Whilst searching on eBay for metal detecting finds I found this hexagonal Tudor glass. I find the thought of 16th and 17th century ships, full of objects to trade all over the world, very poignant and that one of them ended up with me is extraordinary. I want to celebrate these brave objects that have been through so much history. Having come from a shipwreck, a coral reef lid seemed appropriate. The lid lifts off and the glass forms the box. The coral is from a vintage necklace and we pieced it together, back to something like its original form. This technique was inspired by Ai Wei Wei's trees.

There are three or four parts to my work practice and ideas tend to cross between the different areas. Laura Ngyou and I had been working on a large ring which we chased from the back to form "hillocks" and then it was covered with pearls and diamonds etc. We used the same methods to create the coral reef with the addition of 18 carat gold seaweed floating above it. The glass dome is antique but the base was made for it from London Plane tree wood which has a very fine grain reminiscent of sand.

Much of my deep imagination is situated under the sea. I like the way that the corals and barnacles encrust the surface of things. It's a long process of build-up, a random design that looks completely meant. The making of a box or a piece of jewellery takes time, the placement of small elements doesn't need to be planned too much but builds slowly to a whole.