I’ve been obsessed with necklaces, and to a lesser degree earrings and bangles, all my adult life. Not super-grand diamonds, or elegant silver and gold, but colourful, fun, happy-making beads. I was raised in South Africa and my first grown-up necklace, given to me on my fifteenth birthday was made by Xhosa women who do African beading. It was like a big flat bib of the finest beads, arranged in green, red and black geometric shapes. I still have it.
All my long life I’ve collected necklaces from all over the world, mostly from market stalls or craft fairs, occasionally from designers workshops, often made from recycled materials like rubber offcuts, paper, plastic bags, even ring-pulls from coke cans. But when I got to know Siska, my obsession took a new turn. Arranging coloured beads in original ways is huge fun, and we decided we’d make a Prue collection.
Siska already designs lovely jewellery, and she really doesn’t need help from a cook! But she’s lovely, and was excited by the idea, so here we are, with Prue by Ziska. Take a look at the collection here.
