Former Independent journalist Gina Cowen is now rocking her way to success in the jewellery business and this month will be having her first exhibition in Majorca, in Deya. Cowen's jewellery has brought a breath of fresh air to the market and her collections have received widespread acclaim from magazines and newspapers in the UK. Apart from the beauty and ingenuity of her jewellery, what has caught people's eyes is that she makes the items from sea glass. Cowen, whose exhibition opens at the Residencia Hotel on May 19, says she came to make sea glass jewellery from wide travels and a varied career that has included publishing, music management and journalism. Born in Cape Town in 1957, she moved to England via the States, was brought up in Oxford, did a degree in English at Cambridge, then worked and travelled in Africa and India. Following her travels she worked in art publishing, as a manager for classical musicians and then as a journalist for the Independent. A growing interest in jewellery led to part time study at the London Guildhall University (John Cass) 1993-5 and a further year (1998-9) at Camberwell College of Arts in London, where she currently lives and works. She has specialised in jewellery from sea-glass because of the beauty in these simple, tide-tossed luminous pebbles of colour. Her earliest pieces were inspired by glass picked up on a small stretch of shingle near Cape Town. She now has glass from around the world. Some she collects, some is sent by friends. Her first necklaces were bought by the Agete gallery in Tokyo, and The Sea Glass Collection was originally shown in Liberty, London.
British jeweller bringing treasure chest to Majorca exhibition