About Pearly Hawker

 

Pearly Hawker is a brand created and designed by Mercedes Palmer-Higgins. Based in her hometown of Colchester, she is a trained Silversmith & illustrator who tries to create wearable stories based on the things that she loves and finds interesting. This can range anywhere from video games, to history and art or even music.

Mercedes is a big believer in trying to keep her work sustainable, even when trying to make pieces that will hold a sense of wonder and awe as they are passed down. Pearly Hawker isn't about fast fashion, it's about good design that can tell a story and is made to order. There will only ever be pre-made stock for shows and anything left over will always be placed on Wolf & Badger rather than sitting around to collect dust. The point is that if someone likes a design or wants a piece for themselves or a loved one, it will be handmade after being ordered and then sent off in eco friendly packaging. This process can take up to 3 weeks, so please keep that in mind when ordering. Bespoke or Recycled pieces can take even longer depending on the agreed design.

We're still a ways off from being fully eco friendly with everything, but we've got a list of things to look at and are doing our best to make sure that Pearly Hawker is a brand for long loved and kept treasures, rather than a brand that adds to the problem.

 

                       

Where does Pearly Hawker come from?

The name Pearly Hawker originates from wanting to use my own history as inspiration for the Brand. With stories of Spanish Hawker ancestors and my great grandparents being Pearly Kings & Queen, it made sense that as the next in a long line of mad creatives I would be a Pearly Hawker.

My Work

I fell in love with wax carving at university when I was studying Silversmithing but only really attempted to work with it in my final year. This was a real lightbulb moment while using wax to carve my final piece "The Silver Bride." 
It mixes my love of history, story telling and music, with the silver bride being an attempt at making an ornate totem of survival. 
I took influence from Celtic & Viking knotwork, Beetles (the insect) & the song Silver Bride by the band Amorphis. 


It was after this, that I decided this was the main medium I wanted to follow with my work in jewellery, specialising more in wax casting and carving. Leading to me interning for Jewellers and working at a casters to gain further knowledge of the world of jewellery designing and making so I could have a better grounding with my own work.

Now with Pearly Hawker, I use a lot of my hometowns history, my travels and other inspirations to create the pieces that I do. Letting them take on a life of their own and making the definite decision that any and all future work will never be seasonal. New designs will be created when the inspiration or idea is there and to avoid clutter, although I may keep the odd wax to work on I will never hold ready-cast pieces unless for a specific order or client.

Conservation & Charity

I am currently working on a collection that will donate towards conservations, trusts and charities of my choosing. When this starts, please be mindful that these are again ones that I have chosen. Although I am happy to be advised of ones I may not know of, please do not comment on the choices I have made. These are personal to myself and if you do not like them you don't have to support it.
This idea was inspired by my Great Grandfather & his brothers charity "The Fives", I have gone through a lot and seen my family & friends go through their own ups and downs, so I wanted to create something that would allow me the ability and power to give back as well as help out. 
 
With every design purchased there will be information about how much was donated from that purchase, a thankyou, information on the field it is dedicated to and how you can help further if you wish.

Eventually it is my hope to add a list here of all the available charities, conservation projects and trusts that Pearly Hawker is donating to. So keep an eye out!

 

DESIGN & SUSTAINABILITY 

 

Every piece of Pearly Hawker jewellery is handmade by me to ensure its quality in design and look.

Each piece is designed, carved, cast, polished and set in England.
Our packaging comes from the Tiny Box Company, which prides itself on being eco-friendly and sustainable. Using their recyclable packaging that we then stamp our logo on, we wrap every box in eco-friendly paper and tie them up with black and white twine before sending them out to their new homes. Eventually we would like to do more and it is our aim that Pearly Hawker will.
 
We also recycle jewellery! I love when a client contacts us about a recycling opportunity. Jewellery should be personal to the wearer, but unfortunately sometimes what’s passed down isn’t what we ourselves enjoy wearing. I like to work with clients to completely redesign pieces, so that they can keep their beautiful memory but wear it rather than let it sit in a corner forever collecting dust. Please contact us if you have any queries on this, we'd love to hear from you!