Kerensa – It's All About Love.

The Cornish word ‘Kerensa’ means precisely that – Love.

Award-winning jeweller, Erica Sharpe, spent her childhood summers on the North Cornish
coast. She remembers this time with great affection. Hours of joyful play in the coves and
caves along the shore and clambering on the cliffs collecting rocks and minerals helped
formulate her lifelong passion for gems, metals and natural forms.

At that time, tin was still mined in Cornwall, as it had been for thousands of years
previously. But in 1998, the last working Cornish tin mine was closed, marking the sad
end of an important and life-shaping era. Erica believes tinʼs inherent character,
importance and beauty make it a treasure.

Normally working with precious metals, Erica’s first introduction to working with tin came
with a commission for a 10th wedding anniversary gift – to which this metal is symbolically
associated. She found the experience intriguing especially with such a strong connection
to the former national tin capital, Cornwall. Erica was inspired to create the Kerensa
range. After a period of trial and experimentation she perfected Kerensa’s rich, satin-textured
leaf blade design which shows the exquisite whiteness of the tin balanced by the
high polish of its gold or silver, supporting rib. She works closely with a former tin-miner
who smelts tin for her Kerensa collection from the St Just area. Every Kerensa piece is meticulously hand-crafted, with a great deal of care and attention by Erica to the very highest level of craftsmanship.

Erica maintains an enthusiastic interest in developing this range which fuses heritage with
design, drawing further ideas from her time spent in Cornwall’s mining area - walking,
sketching and exploring underground in the ancient mines.

Following an art-school training, Erica completed an apprenticeship in an
Indian Jewellers before working at the bench in the UK jewellery trade. She has
been making fine hand-crafted precious jewellery for over 20 years, setting up
her own business in 1992. She qualified, and was subsequently elected a
Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA) in 1996. The
following year, she passed the Association’s Gem Diamond Diploma (DGA) with
distinction and won the National Association of Goldsmith’s Leslie Fizgerald
Award. Her award-winning work has been exhibited around the country and
she has contributed to many jewellery and gemstone publications. As well as
working at designing and making jewellery, she teaches and gives practical
demonstrations of her work all around the UK.