In a special new exhibition for London Craft Week, jeweller Alex Monroe has selected five endangered habitats in the UK and studied each one in detail through sketching, drawing, pressing and making. We caught up with Alex to find out more about how he draws inspiration from the natural world around him:
Tell us about yourself: where are you based, where did your creative journey begin, and what lead you to jewellery?
I’m a Suffolk boy who ended up in South East London. Way back when, in rural Suffolk in the 1980’s, school hadn’t gone to plan but I was lucky enough to do a foundation course at Ipswich Art School. I found my me and haven’t looked back. I still love Suffolk but it wasn’t the place for a highly ambitious and slightly different person, so London became my home.
What draws you to exploring plants in your work? What do they mean to you?
It’s my roots. I love being on my own in the countryside, sitting, sketching and just watching. All the big subjects I’m wanting to explore in my work can be found in nature. Life, death, love, existence… and of course beauty.
Can you tell us about your process, how do you create your pieces? Where do you find inspiration?
I always start with a subject that I’m wanting to explore. This could be a visual subject or just a feeling. I have hundreds of sketch book with thousands of half-explored ideas which act as my store cupboard. And of course I’m always observing and thinking about new things too. I always carry a sketch book so I constantly note down ideas, images, shapes or patterns… or I write a few words or whatever.
Once I’m settled on a theme I’ll go out and research it until I’m ready to work up some of my ideas into three dimensional things. Then I’ll want to get on the bench and start making. But my making is a form of sketching too, and soon I have objects that I can hold up to the body and explore how they will wear. At that point a collection starts to form, and it’s full steam ahead creating the collection. Lastly, like any creative process it all need really honest and heavy editing…
Your Garden Museum exhibition is inspired by wildlife and flora found across the UK’s natural habitats. Can you tell us about the places you explored and how the exhibition took shape?
I love the wonderful natural environment we have here in the UK. There’s no need to go whizzing off all over the place, there’s so much to see right here. But of course we’re destroying it at an alarming rate. Some of my favourite places are in ancient orchards, or hedgerows. Temperate rainforests are completely amazing. Everyone should visit. And then there are chalk grasslands, unimproved grasslands… every one of these habitats is so beautiful. But the figures are worrying, for example only about 1% of temperate rainforest still survives in the UK.
Can you tell us about the collaboration with Hazel Gardiner for the exhibition? How did this come about?
I initially pitched this idea to Chelsea Flower Show but they didn’t want it! Hazel is an old friend and she was the one who suggested the Garden Museum, who loved the idea. But at the same time I knew I needed some help on my floral display skills and if there is anyone who is an incredible floral artist it’s Hazel! So I asked, and she’s so generous of course she said yes. It was really fun to work with her.
What does a typical day in the life look like for you?
There is no such thing! Except maybe working quite long and late and not getting evenings or week-ends. I’m running a business, designing and making jewellery, and always doing some fun project like the Garden Museum exhibition. And I’m creating a farm in Suffolk which is pretty full on too! So other than never stopping, I could be meeting architects, helping with the stock fencing, drawing in a gorge in Devon, holding a senior managers meeting, arguing with accountants, making a fern leaf or teaching young people. It is so varied.
Do you have any favourite gardens to visit or places to immerse yourself in nature?
I love the Chelsea physic garden. And then it’s out into the wild, anywhere off the beaten track. Often in Suffolk.
Finally, as we are the Garden Museum, can you tell us about your relationship with plants, gardening and nature?
I’m always drawing but (maybe unusually) I smell and taste a lot of things too. I was out drawing in hedgerows in Suffolk just a few days ago where the hops were just sprouting. I collected enough hop tips and found some wild garlic to make pasta con bruscandoli for supper. I used my home grown onions and dried chilli.
My sketch books are full of recipe ideas from things I forage. Gardening, food, sketching and making are inseparable for me. I also have a nostalgic side to me so I love growing more formal standard roses in an old fashioned cottage garden style.