London-based jewellery designer Polly Weinan Pan calls herself an urban nomad. She left home in China and has lived in various cities and countries depending on where her education, career and curiosity have guided her. 

Polly has spent periods of time in mountain regions, including in the Alps, the Scottish Highlands and even Mount Everest and the Himalayas. In these remote places she learnt much about inner stillness, and it is this introspective calm that she hopes to capture in her designs. 

Her jewellery is designed to provide a moment of meditative escape from urban life. Each piece is handmade and totally unique. She loves to create small details that catch you by surprise, and endeavours to make her jewellery sustainable and environmentally responsible. 

The Kun (‘whistle’) pearl necklace is made of freshwater baroque pearls, ocean jasper from Madagascar, sterling silver and 18ct gold. The piece is inspired by the myth of Kun-Peng, a divine beast that appears in ancient Chinese Taoism myths. Kun, a thousand-mile-long fish that lived in the cold and deep north ocean, takes a long journey to the warm waters of the south. When Kun arrives, he transforms into a giant bird named Peng with wings a thousand miles wide. “Kun-Peng symbolises the great aspiration and indomitable will in Chinese culture.”

Much of Polly’s work is inspired by the myths, legends, and wisdoms of her culture. “I share my knowledge of ancient Chinese philosophy and by telling of Kun’s legendary journey, this whistle necklace reminds the wearer to appreciate their own personal journey towards a greater self.”

The work is not complete when Polly is finished with it. As the jewellery oxidises and weathers, it will grow and change with its owner. Polly is one of many designers in the Cluster Jewellery community who believe that the piece they create is only completed when it is worn by its owner. 

From her home studio in Lahti, Finnish designer Marika Tiukkanen looks for tranquility and balance through her design work. She takes pleasure in simplicity and is moved by the smallest of things – the things that seem effortless, but are often the results of huge events and deep thinking. “Tiny things are filled with emotion,” she says. “I am fascinated by simple things. It feeds my imagination to work out how can I create something multidimensional from something simple?”

In her jewellery, Marika aims to create elegant and insightful pieces by employing modest methods. Her pieces are all handmade in her studio — she finds the tactile work calming and at the same time enlivening — and her work is deeply person. She works mostly with silver, a material she describes as imbued with silent dignity.

The Bond Earrings, which are available through the Cluster Jewellery online store, exemplify Marika’s work: strikingly visual, but noticeably simple. “There is vulnerability in the Bond earrings. It is just a web, stripped of everything unnecessary. As the silver strings become entangled with each other they create a beautiful basis.”

Marika allows for spontaneity and mistakes in her work. Organic processes lead you in new directions, she explains, even when they are born of error. 

“There are small bits from my thoughts and soul in each piece that I create, and that is always a little thrilling,” she explains. “ I hope my jewellery pieces resonate that.”