Marsha Kessels Jewellery

Marsha Kessels is a jewellery designer from the Netherlands and based in Maastricht. She designs objects and jewellery inspired by nature. The forest is her favourite playground. Her collection will be presented at the FASHIONCLASH 'designer' Market.

What inspires you in general? 
Mother nature is my inspiration. The diversity and curiosity behind the appearance of nature fascinates me. I capture nature as stillness in my mind. I go back to basics searching for the essence and inner souls of design.

What place or city do you find inspiring? 
That can be any place. Everywhere you can discover new things and meet warm-hearted people that give you new inspiration.

What is it like to be a young designer in your city/country? 
Challenging. You have to keep promoting yourself. I know that Maastricht is trying to show itself more as a fashion city. They are interested in the opinion of designers, and more importantly, they are interested in collaborating with them. This gave me the opportunity to meet other designers in different fields and the opportunity to discover and rediscover. Hopefully, Maastricht will keep developing in that direction.

What attracts you about the FASHIONCLASH platform? 
FASHIONCLASH brings designers from different disciplines together and gives them the opportunity to showcase their collection. This opens up possibilities for people like me to show their work.

What is the concept behind your latest collection? 
My latest collection is called Stillness of nature. It is a collection of discovery, rediscovery and woven lines as the expression of stillness in your mind. As a seeker, I searched the forest to collect wood and stones to forge them into jewellery and objects. In this collection, I use nature as my colour palette. I developed my own natural pigments out of plants, flowers or roots to give my jewellery beautiful colors.

Did you always want to work in the field of fashion? 
When I was a child, I was convinced I wanted to be someone who makes amulets. Now, I am a jewellery designer. So yes, designing is what completes me, it is what I am.

Can you remember the first piece you designed? 
Yes, it was an amulet made out of wood decorated with goose feathers.

What is on your playlist when you are working? 
It really depends on the mood I am in and what I need to do. Lately, I listen a lot to Xavier Rudd. 

What made you smile today? 
Waking up and hearing a bird singing in the beautiful morning sun.

What can we expect from you in the future? 
Developing my designs and a new interesting collection.

Marsha’s website: www.marshakessels.com