Wendy Ramshaw is a leading and internationally renowned artist jeweller, who experiments with a wide range of materials and new technologies. Artistically she was always ahead of her time, her designs are distinctive and innovative. She first trained in illustration and textile design. Her early jewellery, made in the early 1960s with her husband David Watkins, used screen-printed acrylic and paper. In about 1970 she turned to working in silver and gold, rapidly establishing a distinctive minimalist style influenced by modernism and industrial design.

In 1978, Wendy Ramshaw and David Watkins became Artists in Residence at the Western Australian Institute of Technology in Perth (now Curtin University) sponsored by the Australian Crafts Council. It was during this period that Ramshaw began working with clay and soon recognized the surface qualities of ceramics in combination with metal.

In the 1980s Wendy Ramshaw, in a continual search for new materials, collaborated with Josiah Wedgwood & Co. of Barlaston, Stoke on Trent, to produce a collection in black basalt and white jasperware stoneware, their traditional wares. The ceramic pieces were made by Wedgwood and then carved and turned in the artist's London studio. The resulting ceramic elements were then assembled into pieces of jewellery using 18 carat yellow gold. Some pieces were limited editions, others unique. The collection was launched in 1982 with a show and catalogue at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

As shown in this necklace of white jasper Ramshaw transforms ceramics into a contemporary form with modern technology. The beads – reminiscent of primitive civilizations – are formed of basic geometric units in simple, yet effective ornamental arrangements.