ABOUT ANNETTE
Annette is a fully-qualified and highly-skilled designer goldsmith, creating unique, elegant contemporary jewellery in gold, silver and precious stones.
She started her training at Maidenhead Art College, then completed her degree at Loughborough College of Art and Design, before starting her career as a designer in London's jewellery quarter Hatton Garden.
In 1990 she set up her own jewellery workshop just outside Farnham, in Surrey - moving to Somerset in 1994 in order to build her business.
As well as running her own design workshop, she also worked as a freelance designer during this time for a number of well-known jewellers in Bath.
She set up a studio at the Black Swan Arts Centre, in Frome, in 1995, before opening Annette Gabbedey Jewellers in 2002.
Bespoke jewellery
Annette's designs are often described as "organic', but she also draws inspiration from geometry and architecture and she also has a fascination with machinery - she can often be found lost in a tool catalogue looking for design inspiration!
Annette has a particular affinity with opals - sourcing stones directly from the opal fields of Australia. The unique colours and shapes of these precious stones often directly influence the design of the jewellery.
Annette describes her relationship with design as a "passion", and is proud to draw on her family's tradition of design - her grandfather was a skilled cabinet maker, her grandmother a milliner in London and her mother is a retired dressmaker.
As well as the love of her craft, Annette's greatest inspiration is the pleasure of creating for someone, and, she says: "the best part of completing a commission after working closely with the customer is transforming their design to a finished item and seeing their face light up - their smile completes the commission.".