Sarah Angold

The Capitra necklace

Sarah Angold’s designs are instantly recognisable. Sitting somewhere between accessories and art, her sci-fi shapes and sculptural details are a hefty dose of urbanite style, cut in glossy layers of acrylic. They’re the result of a multi-disciplinary approach – Angold’s done everything from vehicle design in Japan to designing sets for Made in Chelsea – and futuristic design processes like laser cutting and acid etching.

It’s Angold’s jewellery that she’s best known for: statement necklaces, earrings and cuffs swinging from silver chains and finished with etched brass. But the collection came about almost by accident – she was working in lighting design when Selfridges commissioned her to decorate their Oxford Street windows. She cut up her hyper-modern lights, re-assembled the pieces in new shapes to look like accessories, and started getting enquiries about her jewellery line, which didn’t even exist yet.

Shilo Earrings

Her website lists “graphic shapes, mathematical structures and industrial processes” as her sources of inspiration, and you can see those influences across her portfolio. Bespoke projects have included installations at the Design Museum and Tate Modern, lighting for Pizza Express, collaborating with David Koma, and a towering sculpture for the LFW Style Lounge at the May Fair Hotel.

The Gemi Lite Anemone

Angold’s mainline collections – futuristic lampshades and architectural jewellery – are almost museum worthy (they’re stocked at the V&A, as well as Luisa Via Roma and Angold’s online store). My favourite is the Queus bracelet, two layers of acrylic suspended by tiny strips of gleaming brass, but it’s the Capitra necklace (top image) that has really become her signature piece. Hundreds of acrylic slivers seem to shift around the neck in an elaborate, futuristic ruffle that would rival any amount of diamonds.

The Queus bracelet

Angold might sell her collections online but at £900 for the Capitra necklace, and up to £835 for a lamp, they’re still out of reach for a lot of us. Luckily her collaborative approach to her career has extended to the high street – a special 7-piece collection for Topshop sold out almost immediately in-store last month, but is still available online. And the rumour is that a collaboration with ASOS is on the horizon for later this year. We’re hoping that this means more jewellery, maybe with a few flashes of colour this time, but we’d also love to see her acrylic work embedded into clothing or bags. Whichever direction she takes it in, we’ll be waiting for our chance to invest in one of London’s most innovative talents. 

Sarah Angold for Topshop