Bronte Schwier

Design elements, such as buckles and buttons, have much become overlooked today. Once treasured and re-purposed, now often end up in a landfill. This encouraged Bronte to think about how things can be made to encourage adaptability, imagination and long life usage.

Through collaborating with local fashion designers, Bronte noticed a gap in the market for this kind of bespoke service and hardware offering today. Bronte aims to provide an opportunity to add durable, yet desirable detailing to garments, that could in fact be used on many other household objects.

With the use of turned steel, screw-threads and interconnecting components, Bronte offers multiple arrangements and uses for elements.

The fastenings designed for Tiscar Espadas', June 2020 collection were informed by a case study focusing on the force of monumental scale and the design sensibilities of modernist construction — reference was drawn from bus stops built during the Soviet Union era, documented by Ursula Schulz-Dornburg.

Bronte was attracted to the permanent structures appearance of function and mass production, however each was designed by an individual architect. She imagines the ambitious engineered structures as microscopic details of silversmithing components.

Bronte created the set of hardware around this concept; the fastenings hold a structural form, yet offer movement and press functions.

During the Covid-19 lockdown she couldn't help but concentrate on the lack of ability to touch and handle objects; she wanted to create a range that offer the user personal, tactile and mechanised detailing. The collection consists of buttons, buckles and safety pin brooches for Tiscar Espadas - featured on the London Fashion Week, June 2020 online show.

The competition’s brief was to create a design based on a famous song title that had a meaningful message to someone close to you or a client. For this, Bronte chose Bob Dylans ‘Tangled Up In Blue’, for her Dad. The initial prototype of the ring itself was made from her Mum’s gardening wire and tubing, giving a novel, “chubby” feel to it, that references the almost humorous undertone of the lyrics’ “entangled” feeling.

The finished design, which the Theo Fennell team are producing, holds the Octagonal cut Mandarin Garnet in centre place, with a gunmetal-blue Rhodium finish.

In the spring term Bronte produced a prototype ring and box at college, testing out different technical approaches, such as, 3D printing and casting, hand forging silver wire, and hand building silver tube, in order to understand the material and technical properties of each method. The jewellery sits in a beech wood box – a gentle nod towards the industrial tube form.