Shark Alley

Shark Alley (aka Sarah Kelly…it’s an anagram!) designs and makes beautiful, individual hand-finished jewellery based on animal wildlife and birds.

She works from her Brighton studio close to the sea where she is inspired by a passion for the fascinating patterns, shapes and textures found in nature and the English countryside.

Before Shark Alley, she worked for many years as an illustrator and crafter, with clients including ELLE magazine, Ecover, Oxford University Press and the designer Kaffe Fassett, and you’ll see that illustrative quality carrying into her jewellery creations.

“I grew up drawing, sewing and crafting endlessly as well as loving wildlife, and many weekends and holidays were spent birdwatching and enjoying nature with my family. My grandfather was a passionate amateur botanist and photographer and his brother Gilbert corresponded with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain about the birdlife in St James’s Park during the early years of the Second World War.”

Every one of her designs is based on her original drawings, which she carefully refines until the shapes and patterns work together, and finally come to fruition as enchanting and tactile physical objects. Her main working material of choice is wood, which is often embellished with hand-painted finishing, or contrasting acrylic highlights.