Zsuzsi was born in Sidmouth and educated locally.
After completing foundation at Exeter College of Art she
gained a BA (Hons) first class in metalwork from West Surrey
College of Art and Design and an
MA in silversmithing and jewellery from the Royal College of Art.
A recipient of a Crafts Council setting up grant, she has worked as a full time artist since and returned to Sidmouth with her husband and daughter to be by the sea.
Work has sold regularly through galleries and design shops in London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and America as well as in the UK. She has been a lecturer at various universities including John Cass.
Zsuzsi´s work has featured in various publications including The Times, The Independent, Crafts Magazine and Devon Life. She is a member of The Devon Guild of Craftsmen.
Her original desire to study fine art has greatly influenced her work. Her painting and want for colour in her jewellery led her to specialise in the field of enamelling.
The pieces develop in an organic way. This allows a design to change during the working process, so as it progresses, colours shapes and patterns alter as new ideas emerge. A series of individual pieces may be similar in line, but almost never the same.
Fine silver and 22ct gold are worked freestyle, the designs are made entirely by hand and then enamelled. Enamel is laid on in a painterly fashion. Tiny washed and ground granules, suspended in water are applied with a fine paintbrush. Subtle and vibrant colours are used together. Opaque and transparent enamels form blocks of colour or, when layered in separate firings, with opals, create a watercolour effect.
Some pieces take many firings. Enamelling is a difficult, time consuming but rewarding technique. The range and depth of beautiful colours is impossible to imitate, but the process of fusing glass to metal in a kiln is hard to master and control. Different colours fire and glass at different temperatures and react to solder and metal oxides, sometimes disastrously. Once a piece has glassed successfully the surface is ground with carborundum stone and diamond grit to flatten it. After washing thoroughly the piece is fired for the final time and then the enamel is treated with acid etch and the silver is chemically oxidised.
BORN:Sidmouth Devon
2012 caa- Contemporary Applied Arts BHF Exhibition - Target The Heart.
The Contemporary Craft Fair Bovey Tracey : June 15 - 17 June 2012
2010-2011-Diana Porter Contemporary Jewellery - Bristol.
caa- Contemporary Applied Arts London.
Victoria Sewart Contemporary Jewellery.
The Contemporary Craft Fair Bovey Tracey
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS: 2008 – 2009 Playing With Fire – British Society of Enamellers :