Holiday time!

It's time for another adventure! Rangoli is closed for holidays and will re-open on Monday 17th October. This year, I'm travelling to Central Asia. I'll tell you all about it when I get back!

For anyone with an upcoming wedding, I have lots of pieces in the showroom that can be purchased at short notice on my return.

Image via DustJacketAttic

a thousand words - Belathée Photography

Great photographs tell a story by capturing a moment in time. In this series, I am asking some of my favourite wedding photographers to describe one of their cherished photographs. My inspiration is the book Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers On Their Art. This book features a number of iconic photographers who share some personal reflections about one of their photographs. Although I don't yet own a copy of the book, the idea captured my imagination and is the inspiration for a new series of guest blog posts with photographers.


This month, let's welcome Annabel and Dorothée from Belathée Photography who are based in New York and Seattle and also work internationally. Take it away girls...

 {click  image for larger version}

"As you'll probably hear from many photographers, it's really hard to pick just a few of your absolute favorites... there is usually a connection to most of the photographs we take, they are like little flashes in our memory.

This photograph of our bride Nicky however just has something a little bit more magic about it and we can't even really put it in words. In a studio it's much easier to control the perfect lighting and composition, when photographing a fluid event like a wedding however, those factors are not in our control and we just rely on our experience and intuition to capture the perfect moment.

A hotel lobby isn't always the most magical place for shooting but in this case the chandelier and room lighting worked out in our favor and allowed for this moment to be captured.

On her way to a little ceremony in Gramercy Park (in NYC) a guest spotted Nicky and called for her attention, allowing for that candid moment of her turning back around.

The concierge and the leaving guest make it obvious that she is in a public setting although it's hard to believe at first. We love that, otherwise it would seem " too perfect".

Even 30 seconds later her reality was a completely different one but for this split second she was in the " 1000 words setting" we are so grateful for.

We hope you enjoy this photograph as much as we do.

Annabel and Dorothée"

I'm a big fan of Belathée and love their fine art photography. Check out their website and blog for more gorgeous imagery. You can also read about other featured photographers in the 'thousand words' series.

Autumn amber shades

I'm designing a headpiece for this striking Vera Wang Evelyn dress. I love the lines of this contemporary gown. I'm incorporating gorgeous shades of amber, golden topaz and white opal crystal. Perfect for this time of the year!

I found this inspiration  board over on The Finer Things stationery blog and love the rich palette. Silver or white gold are still the most popular colours for accessories but gold is definitely a trend for 2012 weddings.

I'll be able to show you the finished piece in October when I get back back from holidays.

Below you can see the finished design. With this commission, the client was fairly open about the style of headpiece that she would like. Her only guidelines were that she wanted the piece to be in gold tones and not too vintage in style.

I asked her to send me pictures of combs that had elements that she liked. So, some incorporated the warm gold tones she liked, while others had floral or linear elements that appealed. This can be a great way to pinpoint the type of design you would like even if it seems a bit vague. It really helped me to narrow down the eventual design, shape and form. This piece will be worn at the back of the head. The dress design is very bold so simple gold rhinestone drop earrings will be the only other accessory.

I wish that more of you would choose these gorgeous golden shades. It seems that silver or white gold is still the most popular. I'd love to hear your thoughts on gold versus silver...

Botanic Garden Inspiration

Autumn is on the way and I'm designing a new collection of ready to wear jewellery which I can't wait to show you. When I saw these images over on Dust Jacket Attic, they jumped off the page for me  - they perfectly illustrate the combination of reality and fantasy that influences my designs.

When I start sketching new designs, my pencil creates the most fluid and magical lines. Any form is possible and I get totally carried away in the world of my imagination.

Fashion and nature are two great sources of inspiration for me. I took the pictures below in the National Botanic Gardens. The greenhouses are a wonderland of fantastical sculptures and a great way to spend a rainy afternoon!

I'm off on holidays at the end of the month but I'll keep you posted on the launch of the new collection towards Christmas!

Top photo credits -
by Owen Bruce and styled by Tasha Cain with watercolour art by Iveta Karpathyova for Pulp#3.
Botanic Garden photos by Aisling Nelson

a thousand words - We are the Mastersons

Great photographs tell a story by capturing a moment in time. In this series, I am asking some of my favourite wedding photographers to describe one of their cherished photographs. My inspiration is the book Photography Speaks: 150 Photographers On Their Art. This book features a number of iconic photographers who share some personal reflections about one of their photographs. Although I don't yet own a copy of the book, the idea captured my imagination and is the inspiration for a new series of guest blog posts with photographers.

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Brian and Trish from We are the Mastersons with a beautiful image that they have chosen to speak about -

"Having to choose a favourite image from our photographs has turned out to be a lot more awkward than we had expected. It feels like we have a huge family of children, and suddenly we have to pick out which one is our favourite. The system we’ve used is completely random and thoroughly unfair, and by tomorrow we will probably have changed our decision. But for today, here it is.

Each year we get the chance to work with great couples and we’ve been incredibly lucky to shoot weddings for graphic designers, artists, other photographers, or for people who just love photography as much as we do. Working with visual people and having them trust us has given us the freedom to develop our own style. In the last couple of years I think that you can look at an image and know that it's one of ours. So much of our work happens before the wedding day in just talking to people, asking questions and listening. Listening is the most important thing that we do. The more that we listen, the more we know and understand a couple, what they like and what makes them laugh, and the better the images of the day will be.

Somebody once mentioned how our photographs reminded them of the classic cinema of the early 70's and I think that's true, not just in the colours but the way that they feel. With our photography, we try to make images that are both strong enough to stand on their own, but that will also work alongside the other shots from the day. It’s like watching a classic film and trying to select twenty individual frames that tell the story. Because at its best, that’s what wedding photography is – it’s storytelling. When you start studying photography, you concentrate on making each image the best that it can be. And then with experience, you begin to stand back and see not just individual images, but how each one fits into the day as a whole.

Being a photographer at a wedding is like having a film played out in front of you. And as with films, there is a pace and a rhythm to a wedding day that we try to capture in our photographs. That’s why we love designing the albums as we get to the chance to recreate the rhythm of the wedding in the way that we lay out the photos – moments of quiet followed by moments of excitement.

It’s surprising where you get inspiration from. We tend not to look at too many wedding blogs and I think that has helped us to find our own style. We get influenced by what we see. Watching the wide open spaces of the films of Terrence Malick, or the tightly cropped individuality of Wes Anderson; or feeling the stillness of a Wim Wenders photograph and in the paintings of Edward Hopper. It all has an impact on what we do.

I think that is why we chose this photograph as our favourite. Time on a wedding day moves pretty fast. It’s filled with the hustle and bustle of meeting friends and sharing stories; hours of laughter and minutes of tears; and if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you’ll miss it. When I look back on the photographs of a wedding, I’m drawn to the shots that capture the ‘space between’ – those moments of complete stillness for the couple, where they don’t need to go anywhere or do anything. They just have to be. Raymond Carver described it as “the difficulty of being simple” and that’s what our photographs try to achieve – when the bridal party and the speeches and the flowers fade into the background and all that’s left is two people, side by side, in love.

Those are the moments that make any relationship special and that’s why I love this photograph."

Brian and Trish are an Irish husband and wife photography duo. Be sure to check out the 'We are the Mastersons' website and blog - their images speak for themselves.

Something blue

I love getting the opportunity to design for brides from different countries and cultures. I really need one of those spinning globes for my studio!

I'm heading off to Uzbekistan in the next few weeks for a travel adventure so I was so excited when Tahkmina told me that she was from Tajikistan; another amazing country on the Old Silk Route.


Tahkmina is a bride to be from Tajikistan, getting married in Turkey and wearing a traditional Chinese blue silk gown.

I designed this delicate beaded spray for the back of her hair as the dress fabric is quite elaborate. The piece is embellished with aquamarine, pearl and crystal. Wishing her all the very best for her wedding!

Check out my other recent bespoke commissions on the blog or get in touch to arrange an appointment to visit my showroom.

The 1947 wedding of Tineke, my Mother-in-law.

A few weeks ago, I was looking at a jewellery tool that I have used every day since I set up my business in 1998. It was given to me by Tineke, my Dutch Mother-in-law who was also a jeweller. It got me thinking about memories and how objects and photos can tell a story.

Tineke is one of the most inspiring women I know, apart from my own wonderful Mum. At the age of eighty six, she has boundless energy for life, even though her limbs are physically slowing her down a bit now! I thought you might like to hear some stories about her life in Amsterdam, both during and after the Second World War, before she moved to Ireland in 1956 with her husband Cor. I'm glad she did, or I would never have met my husband Ben!


I am going to write two posts - this one is about Tineke and Cor's wedding. The second will be about how they both previously met in Art College - Tineke studying jewellery and Cor, commercial art or Graphic Design.

Tineke, thanks for taking the time to chat about your wedding day! Can I ask you first about what it was like living in Holland in 1947?

Amsterdam Street scene, 1947, courtesy Chiesavecchia Collection via Flickr

"Amsterdam in 1947 was very much working on getting the city in good shape. After the war there was much rebuilding to undertake; for five years nothing had been built and bombed places needed to be repaired. In Amsterdam there was not as much damage as in Rotterdam, where the Germans bombed the centre of the city to rubble."

WWII Ration card, Netherlands, 1944

"In 1947 we had still coupons on certain things especially for clothing and bedlinen, blankets etc. For our wedding we got special coupons for those things, such as the material for the wedding outfit."

Detail of wedding invitation designed by Cor

I have always loved your wedding outfit - tell us about it?

"Yes, it was in three pieces. The blouse was parachute silk but thinking about it, it must have been the first nylon. We didn't know in the war about nylon. You had a sort of silk that wasn't real but it was not a nylon - it was something in between. And after the Arnhem raid, somehow my sister-in-law got hold of a piece of what we thought was white silk. My mother-in-law had a piece of black velvet and on the coupons I got two metres of another heavier fabric to make the skirt in blue. That was a colour that I loved and then at the bottom there was a band that looked like fine embroidery. Somehow somebody had a piece of that. It was an idea of a farewell to my maiden name Margadant, which is originally a Swiss name. [The bodice] was velvet and was even lined with something black... and no, I don't think it came to Ireland."

Cor and Tineke on their wedding day, July 1947

I asked Tineke about how the wedding was planned in those days. She laughed and said that they were so eager to get married that they were married within a month of registering their intent. They went to the marriage registrar on 24th June 1947 and asked what was the next available date.

"...and they said, the 30th July is free, early in the morning, or 8th August - [and we said] 'No, no, no, we want July, What time? They said it was half past nine in the morning and we said OK. We didn't think any further. We came home to my mother-in-law, and she said 'What?!, half past nine in the morning? [for a] wedding? How do I get ready, how do I do this and that?' She was up in arms about it! 'Stupid you, why did you pick so early?' We were so eager to get married that we didn't think about it. She accepted it then - that was the time we were going to get married!"

Wedding dinner at Cor's parent's house

The wedding party consisted of a gathering at her husband's parents' house. Only a few close family and relatives were invited for a meal and celebration. There were no official speeches or dancing, "...everyone just chatting away".

"The next morning, [there was] a ring on the bell and Cor's father came and he had the little booklet you get when you get married, [in Holland]. We were planning to go to Paris and he said 'you might need it, you know, if people ask you; you look so young'".

Proof of being married?! So the rings weren't enough?

"No, probably not, he didn't think about it. And the rings, you give them to each other when you get engaged... When you are engaged, you wear it on your left hand and when you get married you wear it on your right hand.

I made the rings; I had to go around the family to get gold because shortly after the war you couldn't just go into a shop to buy gold - it was impossible to buy a strip. I got a ring from my step-mother and Cor's mother had a gold ring that she gave and I think a few other people gave something but I had enough then for the two rings. We got them inscribed; the engagement date - my twenty-first birthday and the name [of the other person] and then when we got married, the wedding date as well."

So you went to Paris on your honeymoon?

"Yes! We didn't get up so early as we had planned. We put on our rather heavy rucksacks and went by tram to the spot were all hitch-hiking started. Because transport was still so primitive and expensive, so many young people wanted to travel in Europe. During the war we could not leave Holland. We were amazed that the long bridges over the Rhine and Meuse were still lying in broken pieces in the river, but parts connected with Bailey bridges.

In Paris we had to go to the youth hostel, because, we had no money for a hotel. We took the Metro for the first time and with the help of the map we found where we had to go, Metro to Porte d'Orleans and a long walk to Ville de Malakoff, where we found the youth hostel. We met many people from other countries, even Americans. This was so nice in the evenings.

We took the Metro back into the city and went to all the city landmarks over the next few days. A fantastic view was when we went to Palais de Chaillot and entered the plaza between the two arms of the Palace and you see the Seine, Eiffel Tower and in the distance d'Ecole de Militaire. All on such a large scale, you realize you are in a world city. Another place we liked very much was Montmartre, high on the hill the Sacre Coeur and the Place du Tertre, where many artists were painting or drawing the tourists, not just making sketches, but the sitters had to pose. We saw the Louvre, but didn't go in at that time, [we] left it for the many times we went back.

After ten days we went to friends in Le Havre. We passed the town of Rouen and were so sad to see it in ruins. The cathedral and other ancient building were very badly damaged. Of course it had been damaged during the Allied landings in 1944 and so was Le Havre. Even in the landscape you could see war damage. From Paris we headed North via Luxembourg and the Ardennes and then home to Amsterdam. Paris was all we expected and more!"

A recent photo of Tineke taken by her daughter Emma

Tineke, it's been so interesting listening to your stories and looking at your photographs - thanks for sharing them with me and my readers.

Keep an eye out for my second post about Tineke's time in Art college studying jewellery design - young designers in love, listening to illegal American jazz and studying the subversive social ideas of the Bauhaus movement!