Pretty Personal with Jackie Hahn
In a move that most business students can only dream of pulling off, Jackie Hahn dropped her BComm studies four months in and decided to answer the call of the design industry. Finding inspiration in both the everyday and the obscure, her Jam Jewellery range is a treasure trove of pieces that’ll make you wish you had more hands and ears!
Products shown:
Brass leaf dangling earrings
Silver crown cut-out earrings
Delicate folded sterling silver bracelet
Wood ring with heart cut-out
Silver crown cut out pendant
- Hello Jackie! Tell us a little about yourself.
From an early age, I always loved doing creative things with my hands, and collected things like different shapes, sizes, and colours of leaves, or made collages of pictures or found objects that inspired me.
When I left school I went to Stellenbosch University to study BComm (Management Sciences). However I soon realised that this wasn’t my passion and that I was meant to be in a designing and creating environment. So after just 4 months I quit my studies and took the leap of faith, and enrolled for a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts degree in Creative Jewellery and Metal Design at Stellenbosch University, graduating in December 2009. I have never looked back since. I am so lucky to have found my passion in jewellery design and manufacturing and that I can persue my creative talent as a career. After all, I was born to be a creative.
- And from there, how did Jam Jewellery happen?
Soon after completing my studies I started working at a jewellery design company, but my feet soon became itchy and I wanted to stretch my wings over the waters. So in 2011 I went to Germany for an internship at a jewellery company and worked for a while at a goldsmith’s. However, I soon longed to start my own brand and so at the end of 2011 I returned to my home turf and started working on my lifelong dream of establishing my own brand.
For the duration of 2012 I worked under my jewellery brand called “Hahn Jewellery”. I was invited together with 2 other international jewellery designers to showcase my jewellery in Berlin in October 2012. However, I decided that I needed a quirky, fun and creative brand that I can take to markets, online shops and festivals, a brand that people will remember, like, enjoy and can relate to.
So finally the birth of Jam Jewellery happened at the end of January 2013 and we are going full steam ahead and loving every moment! And we are here to stay…
- Your pieces have a lot of different styles - so, do you get inspiration from a lot of different sources?
I love nature! Most of my inspiration comes from nature, I just love the organic feel of it, especially things like: shells, seed pods, underwater sea life, mushrooms, leaves, textured surfaces…but also found objects, like anything rusted or that has paint is peeling off, makes me super happy and excited ( I still want to do a range like this!). I also get a lot of my inspiration from industrial design such as lampshades, or interesting design in homeware, décor, and anything with an organic feel to it. Three of my favourite artists of all time are Gaudi, Mucha and Hundertwasser Haus. Their work is very organic and has a lot of interesting and intricate patterns and textures that puts my creative juices on a buzzzzz.
Apart from jewellery, one of my all time favourite things that I like is to travel. I love just walking all by myself in ancient cities and exploring every church, interesting building, market and alleyway. My other favourite pastime is to walk or climb a mountain when I can, and to go scuba diving when I have the chance. However, when I can’t do those, I will settle for an Italian ice cream date with my boyfriend in Stellenbosch and pretend we are somewhere in Europe.
- And when you’re not climbing/diving/exploring/eating ice cream, you make pretty jewellery! Tell us about Jam Jewellery?
Jam Jewellery specialises in designing and making of any kind of jewellery in various metals and materials such as: Wood, leather, and semiprecious stones. Our main focus is to custom design and manufacture engagement rings and private commissions, and also to design and produce our own unique jewellery range specially for the Jam Jewellery brand. - Last question - what’s your favourite thing to put jam on?
On a warm freshly baked scone with some cream!
Ooh, we could murder a scone with some jam right now. You can check out more from Jam Jewellery in her Hello Pretty store, and get in touch on Facebook and Twitter. Also, if you check back with us on Monday, we might just be giving away one of the stunning pieces featured in this post.
