From umbrellas to the finest real jewellery

Sweet Pea designer Siobhan O’Neill has always been a creative person. She bought her first vintage piece of jewellery from a flea market at 14, and the rest is history.  

“I was always interested in vintage clothes and fashion, and then it kind of consolidated itself into jewellery. I did a degree in jewellery at Middlesex University, and it enabled me to encompass all my interests in the design and fashion world.

“And then I started my brand. I worked for other people first, it's always best to work for other people I think before you start your own brand because then you can see the mistakes and the assets. I worked for other people and then I started my own brand.”

The Finematter team went to Primrose Hill to chat with Siobhan in the fine jewellery shop she opened 22 years ago.

“I was looking for a studio, but this was available, and it was the same price as the studio. So I suddenly had a retail space, which I was not really banking on.”

“It was quite a novelty to have such a fine jewellery shop in Primrose Hill. Others have been and gone from here.”

Before fine jewellery, Siobhan was a sculptor, and an umbrella maker. “I went from sculpture to making umbrellas to making jewellery. I had an umbrella business for a while.

“I’ve stopped that, that was just way too much hard work. It started off with parasols because it was when people were talking about sun damage. And so I decided for my final university degree show, I was going to do parasols.

“And then I thought well it rains more than it's sunny. So I started making umbrellas.” 

While the link from parasols and umbrellas to fine jewellery may not seem obvious, Siobhan says it’s about “making things”.

“It’s about making things. Making your dress to go to a club. It's about that physical hands-on thing. I don't think it matters what it is. It's just the act of producing something from different parts.”

With Sweet Pea, Siobhan is not just “making things”, but creating long-lasting heirlooms, real jewellery pieces to be passed down generations.

“It's very fine. It's probably the finest. It's really quite delicate looking, but it has an edge. It's not really traditional when you look at it, I think it's from my punk ancestry. It's always a little bit quirky.

“I love colour. I started off with coloured beads. Gemstones with gold. That's how I started the brand. Because I just wanted it to be real.”

At the start of Sweet Pea, Siobhan was making all the jewellery on her own, and with the help of her friends from university. “It was a different time then, and we'd just muck in, and did swaps to help out. No one had any money, so you just had to start somewhere.” 

Nowadays, Sweet Pea jewellery is still made in London, in Primrose Hill. “I think it's important to know that everything's made here on the premises, it’s locally sourced, as they say, and we use recycled gold. I've been to the cutting factories and sat with the people in them in India. I've stayed there for quite some time. I know what's going on through the entire process.”

Inspired by “everything, fashion, design, interiors,” Siobhan designs Sweet Pea “for herself”.

“I'm very passionate about interior design, exhibitions, paintings. I'm a bit of a collector. I'm always collecting stuff, even if it's just going to a car boot sale or a vintage show, picking up a piece of ribbon and then a handbag. It's just a very eclectic mix up. It's a jumble sale, really. I also love jumble sales. 

“I design for myself. Because if I don't like it, no one else is going to like it, and then I won’t be able to sell it. I like very fine things, I like lightness, I like movement. I like colour, so I try to incorporate all those things into the mix.”

Siobhan is passionate about jewellery and collects “jewellery, vintage, and a lot of my friends are jewellers so I have some of their pieces.

“But I don't often wear jewellery when I'm at work because I'm constantly trying things on so it's just an incumbent.

“You can't really wear a lot of jewellery when you're actually designing and making and trying on. You want to have a blank canvas for that.

“I'm very hands on. Before I decided on jewellery, I really wanted to be a sculptress.

“I did sell some sculptures at the very beginning of my artistic career. But a friend of mine who was a jeweller was like no, don't do that, because it's really hard to make a living. I had dependents, so if I did jewellery, I could just sit at the kitchen table with the pliers. He was right.”  

While Siobhan may not wear a lot of jewellery when working, she does have a favourite piece: “I do have a favourite pair of earrings that I wear a lot. That's the hoop with the diamond and long strands.” 

Siobhan and Sweet Pea have come a long way in their jewellery journey, and there is a new exciting plan on the horizon.

“I'm going to be launching a 9 karats Sweet Pea, with the same DNA, but at a lower price point.

“Because of the economy, people are struggling, everything’s gone up in the jewellery world. I just feel now is the time to do this. It’ll probably launch in Spring.”