Niamh Spain is a jewellery and metalwork designer from Co Kildare. Following her graduation from the National College of Art and Design in 2008 where she studied Metal Design, she has been designing and making jewellery from a small studio in her home.
Niamh’s work is inspired by contemporary architecture, geometric shapes and vibrant colour. The work Niamh produces can be divided into three groups - gallery orientated jewellery and wall pieces, limited edition jewellery and bespoke commission jewellery. Each of these different groups has a very distinctive style but all stay true to the visual language Niamh has developed.
National College of Art & Design 2004 – 2008
First class honours achieved in Bachelor of Design, Craft Design
Ballyfermot College of Further Education 2003 – 2004
National Vocational Certificate Level 2 in Art, Graphic Design and Printmaking – 8 distinctions and 2 merits
- With Eily O’Connell, designed and produced the final year catalogue for the NCAD Metals area graduation show in 2008
- Finalist and exhibitor in the 2007 RDS National Crafts Competition in the Gold, Silver and Other Precious Metals category.
- Finalist in the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition 2006 with a martini glass which was produced by Waterford Crystal for the competition.
- Featured on RTE’s Nationwide tv magazine program as one of Ireland’s up and coming young designers in 2006.
The jewellery and wall pieces I have designed are an interpretative response to contemporary architecture. I am interested in identifying a particular viewpoint of a building and subsequently produce graphic drawings illustrating its inner and outer structural lines.
These 2-dimensional diagrams provide templates from which I produce 3-dimensional forms. I am interested in testing the spatial boundary between the 2D and 3D, manipulating sheet into planar objects whilst never becoming fully volumetric.
Each piece relies on another for its outer silhouette as one sheet of metal produces at least three structures. Positive space informs negative and vice versa.
