Glitter and be Gay: A Solo Jewelry Exhibition by David J. Lilly

David J Lilly is colour-blind, from birth. Born into a time and place where colour-blindness was considered a limiting factor, David was actively discouraged at school from taking up an artistic or creative career. David’s most lasting memory (when he was teenager) of being exposed to mind-boggling art and colour was Coventry Cathedral and it was from there that his love of coloured glass was born.

At the turn of the 21st century David found himself with free time and went on a stained-glass course. This lead on to five years of fun and gaining recognition for his glass designing and making skills; now twenty two years later he continues to run a successful creative business based near Brighton; with clients in the UK, Sweden, Australia, USA and France.

David’s jewellery making started with doodles in journals, and fold-forming copper that matched his personal aesthetic akin to the Mid-Century Modern.

David had a great-uncle(he lived in India) who many decades ago gave him a small plastic pot of rough diamonds, rubies and sapphires. David readily admits that he is an Instagram junky and amongst many jewellers he follows a few gem-cutters, one of whom runs workshops. So now some of the gemstones you see in David’s jewellery have been created by him. FYI David never touched those gems in the plastic pot,

In 2019 David was inspired to create three Collections – Menhir (which is about being monolithic) was the first. That was followed by Chevron which was inspired by the work of Barbara Hepworth. Finally he created Outline which is a continually growing collection where each item outlines the gem or gems in them.

During 2020 David started by creating Luutia and Continuum. Luutia is very much about combining organic forms with a Brutalist aesthetic while Continuum leans more towards the delicacy of the early Mid-Century Modern and hints at a modern Celtic knot. As the year progressed Darricarrere, a collection that emulates the work of the late Dalle de Verre stained glass designer Roger Darricarrere, was created and became the first time David worked in wax.

2021 begun with David being guided to create Eir, a very different collection based around the metaphysical healing properties of shapes and gems. As the year progressed, David then created Sputnik, a collection using synthetic Aurora Opals but with a similar aesthetic to Menhir. Finally in 2021 David created Ottogano, a collection based around an eight sided form and set with facetted and cabochon gems.