Like many jewelry makers, Alison Higgins was introduced to the craft through beading.
From there, she graduated into wire working, metalsmithing and shaping precious metal clay.
"My work today combines all of those pieces, which is, I think, one of the things that makes it kind of unique,"
Higgins says. "There's a lot of variety, I don't just do one thing."
In her West Vancouver home studio, she designs and produces an eclectic assortment of earrings, necklaces and bracelets under the Alison Higgins Handcrafted Jewellery label. But one of her favourite parts of the whole creative process happens outside the studio.
"I like hunting down cool stuff and turning it into jewelry," she says.
Organic materials, sourced from home and abroad, are present throughout her collection.
"I love finding interesting fossils and shells and pieces of glass," Higgins says. "Often I'll just start with the material rather than a vision of a finished piece and the process just kind of flows naturally."
One of her top local spots to acquire materials is Capilano Rock and Gem on Pemberton Avenue where large bins of New Zealand paua shells present Higgins with endless creative possibilities.
"I just love digging through and I'll line up pieces and I'll try and find pieces that are a similar hue and pattern that I can shape into earrings."
In addition to natural materials, Higgins is also fond of incorporating vintage finds into her work. She has travelled to Paris to scour the city's legendary flea markets for antique buttons, chandelier crystals, and copper and brass filigree. And from Hell's Kitchen in New York she brought home some cutlery and sawed off the tips of hollow-handled dinner knives to make bellshaped pendants.
Higgins has converted her son's old bedroom in her post-war bungalow into a fully equipped studio complete with a workbench, torches, pliers and other tools. In the dining room, she's installed a hand-cranked rolling mill that can flatten wire or impress delicate patterns onto sheet metal.
"It's a really cool, heavy piece of equipment that's coveted by jewellers."
When designing and assembling her pieces, Higgins says she always keeps the wearer's comfort top of mind.
"Wearability is a really key part of my jewelry and I do test drive all of my pieces just to make sure that they're comfortable."
Versatility is also an important consideration.
"I like pieces that you can just put on and wear," Higgins says. "I find that (my pieces)
transition really well from day to evening and that contributes to the wearability. So it's not just comfort, it's that they're pieces that you can wear every day, but they also look really great dressed up."
Although Higgins uses adjectives like "diverse" and "eclectic" to describe her collection, she notes that all her pieces adhere to the same basic design principles.
"They generally have elegant clean lines and a subtle organic flavour."
Look for the Alison Higgins Handmade Jewellery table at the Shipyards Night Market on Friday, Aug. 28. For future market dates, or to browse the collection online, visit her Etsy store.
