Creative Teesside student helps to highlight jewellery collection

Creative designs by an artistic Teesside University student have been handed out to jewellery experts from across the world.

Mark Longworth, second year BA (Hons) Graphic Design student, created a set of bespoke pieces to highlight the contemporary jewellery collection due to go on permanent display at mima this autumn in partnership with Teesside University.

Mark's creations have been individually crafted from materials such as plastic, wood, bubble wrap, foam, leather and cork – with a piece attached to one of 213 individual cards also designed by Mark, displaying details of the forthcoming jewellery gallery.

There are 213 pieces of jewellery in mima’s collection, which is one of the finest collections of contemporary jewellery in the country. Materials used by Mark reflect the variety of unusual materials some of the jewellery has been created from.

Representatives from mima, Teesside University and Middlesbrough’s first jewellers in residence, Gemma Draper and Janet Hinchliffe McCutcheon, took the cards with Mark’s pieces attached to the Schmuck international contemporary jewellery fair in Munich, Germany, where they were handed out at the event which attracts jewellers and collectors from around the world.

Mark, 30, said: 'Each piece can be unthreaded from the card and crafted into a pendant, brooch or even be used to decorate their hair. It’s hoped each recipient will keep the memento and if they travel to mima in the future to see the jewellery collection, would bring the piece back with them.'

Each card featuring of one Mark's individual pieces bears the message 'this is your key to the jewellery gallery'.

Mark, from Wiltshire, originally studied web design and trained as a chef before returning to education. He said: 'I'd always been interested in art, but never really had the confidence to do anything about it. But when I came to a fork in the road where I could try something new, I felt it was the right time to do it.'

He added: 'I'm really enjoying the degree at Teesside, it's great to be doing something I really want to do. There’s a great freedom with the course and the staff are very supportive. We’re able to be as creative as we want to be.

'I really enjoy that we get live briefs to work on, which is how this came about after my work was shown to mima.'

Mark, who has created 36 different designs for each hand-made piece, said: 'It feels a bit surreal to know that they've been taken across to another part of the world. There will have been lots of people interested in jewellery at the event in Munich and I'm hoping that they will see each piece as a key to the collection at mima.

'Hopefully there will be an ongoing process with people eventually bringing the pieces back to mima when they come to see the exhibition.'

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