Ocean Series Brooches
These brooches are small worlds of light and colour; they are tactile meditations on the fragile ecologies that lie beneath the surface of the sea. Each piece, woven bead by bead, echoes the living geometries of coral, anemones, and symbiotic lifeforms that depend on one another for survival.
The world’s oceans, once vibrant with complexity, are now under severe stress. Rising temperatures, acidification, plastic pollution, and overfishing have caused coral bleaching on an unprecedented scale. Entire reefs, the rainforests of the sea, are turning ghostly white as the algae that sustain them die off. What disappears is not only colour and form, but an intricate network of relationships that sustains thousands of species - a living architecture of interdependence.
In nature, symbiosis is a principle of coexistence: a system in which species thrive not through dominance but through collaboration. The clownfish and sea anemone, for instance, survive through mutual care: one offers protection, the other nourishment. Such relationships are quiet teachers, reminding us that resilience depends on connection.
Through the Ocean Series, I reflect on this profound ecological lesson. The delicate act of weaving each bead becomes a gesture of empathy, a way of holding together what the planet struggles to keep intact. In their shimmering surfaces, fragility and resilience are inseparable: each brooch a microcosm of care, remembrance, and the enduring beauty of life in balance.
These four brooches are part of my ongoing exploration of glass beadwork as a medium of care, memory, and ecological reflection. Each miniature composition, handwoven bead by bead, takes inspiration from fragile marine life forms and underwater habitats.
The first brooch, in soft whites and blush pinks, evokes the tender geometry of a sea anemone: a living bloom of light and movement. The second, in deep blues and coral reds, recalls the pulsing rhythm of reef organisms clinging to life in warming oceans. The third, in pale blues and silvers accented with amber, suggests a fragile coastal world, dying and regenerating coral. The fourth one depicts the delicate symbiosis between the clownfish and its sea anemone - a small world of colour, movement, and mutual care. This moment of togetherness within the fragile ecosystem of the reefs is delicately captured through the hand-weaving of hundreds of tiny glass beads in shades of white, green, purple, and coral.
The shimmering beadwork, both tactile and luminous, invites close observation: each bead a cell of light, each connection a gesture of balance. Like the species they portray, the brooches celebrate resilience within vulnerability, as a reminder of the intricate interdependence that sustains life beneath the waves. Together, these brooches transform glass into a tactile language of empathy. They celebrate the beauty and resilience of endangered marine ecosystems while quietly mourning their vulnerability.