Materials & Craft · Dufferin Studio
From sea glass drilled with patience to copper fired in the kiln — this is how the work gets made.
The Approach
The jewellery made at Dufferin Studio starts not with a formula, but with materials. A piece of sea glass. A freshwater pearl. A strand of lampwork beads. From there, a design emerges — guided by colour, texture, proportion, and feel. The goal is always a professional finish that doesn’t lose the warmth of being made by hand.
The Selection
Many pieces begin with the selection of beads — lampwork glass, Swarovski crystals, freshwater pearls, furnace glass, or natural gemstones. Each bead is chosen for colour, shape, and how it will sit alongside its neighbours. The stringing itself is careful, deliberate work: spacing, proportion, and balance all matter. The result is a piece that feels considered rather than assembled.
The Patience
Sea glass carries history — tumbled smooth by the ocean over decades, each piece is unique in shape, colour, and translucency. Drilling sea glass requires patience and precision; the glass is fragile and irreplaceable. Once drilled, it becomes the centrepiece of pieces that hold something of the shore in them, even far inland. The sea glass used in the studio reflects a deep connection to the Nova Scotia coastline where the artist grew up.
The Fire
Enamelling involves fusing finely ground glass powder onto a copper base using kiln heat. The result is a richly coloured, glass-smooth surface with a depth that paint simply can’t replicate. Each firing is slightly unpredictable — temperatures, timing, and the copper itself all affect the outcome — which means every enamelled piece is genuinely one of a kind. It’s one of the more demanding techniques in the studio, and one of the most rewarding.
The Hammer
Flat sheet metal becomes something much more interesting with texture. In the studio, sterling silver and copper are hand-hammered, stamped, and worked to create organic, tactile surfaces. No two textured pieces look exactly alike — the tool marks, the angle of the hammer, the resistance of the metal all leave their mark. These surfaces catch the light differently depending on how they’re worn, giving each piece a quiet liveliness.
The Eye
Perhaps the most important skill in the studio isn’t a technique at all — it’s judgement. Knowing when a design is finished. Knowing which bead belongs next to which stone, and why. Knowing when a colour combination sings and when it fights. This sense of composition, developed over years and informed by four other artisans and formal study, is what ties every piece together into something cohesive, wearable, and worth keeping.
Knowing when a design is finished. Knowing when a colour combination sings and when it fights.
The Materials
A diverse palette of natural, artisan, and precious materials — each chosen for its character and quality.
In the Studio
Each piece made by hand, with care, in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Get in Touch
Have a question about a specific material or technique? Interested in a piece made with a particular material in mind? Get in touch.