Please tell us who you are and what you do?
Bonjour, My name is Catherine Marche alias Kalicat. I was born in Paris and raised internationally. I am married and have 2 little boys who keep me on my toes 24/7.
I am a jewellery designer and goldsmith, you can see some of my work on http://bijoux.catherinemarche-designs.com and http://www.makers-online.co.uk/artist/kalicat.

My friends say I have a vibrant and ongoing personality, I wonder why LOL! . I like great food, chocolates: my favourite brand is Neuhaus, which now sells in London, saving me trips to Brussels, playing music, dancing, meeting new people, dressing up, travelling, rummaging in Vintage shops for “new” outfits and accessories. Being in the sun, on a sandy beach with a turquoise sea over 25C at my feet is my ideal relaxation. I am quite creative and have been enjoying a variety of crafty endeavours: painting, illustrating, made a few clothes, accessories and bags, by knitting and sewing, and naturally jewellery. I talk about them in my blog http://kalicatdesigns.blogspot.com.

This is a fashion illustration by yours truly for Fashion catwalk at le Monde de la Mode.
You can see more illustrations and paintings at http://www.catherinemarche-designs.com. The editor of Harpers has defined my style as “very French”.

When did you first realise this is what you wanted to do for your chosen career and how did you get started?
As a student, I studied maths, physics, IT and music. I had jobs as an interpreter, a model, a tutor, a holiday camp animator for children, a freelance artist, selling clothes …

On the catwalk, oil painting © Catherine Marche

After a brief spell as a maths teacher, I worked as an IT consultant for many years. I was looking for a job in which I would be able to arrange my worktable around my 2 little darlings born in 2004 and 2006. Driven by my love for design and creativity, I was thinking about the things I like in life and had an Eureka moment:

Portrait of Jean-Christophe Novelli, inks © Catherine Marche

IT (information Technology)… really enjoy this, easy, well paid but very demanding hours. Need to retrain and update skills nonstop…Cannot face being called at 2 am or finishing at 11pm or working week-ends all the time. Not right with babies, especially with a sick one. I thought about my paintings, I like illustration and have worked as a freelancer for many years, pro: fun – cons: need something more steady and reliable in terms of income.

I love music and play the saxophone, but working in a band would mean being away most evenings and having to tour mmm not great with young children either.
What else do I like? I absolutely love travelling around the world and meeting new people. Could that be a job? Not with the little angels really.

Night and Day 18K gold rings with black and white diamonds © Catherine Marche

What else? I like bags, shoes, clothes… Oh! and I like jewellery. In fact, I really like and adooooore jewellery: looking at it, trying it on, playing with it to create a new personality, a new mood, a new style. Jewellery has always been a way for me of appropriating my soul and expressing it. I started commissioning jewellery from an early age : my 1st time, aged 9, going to the local Goldsmith with my maman to commission a cross for my communion, a nice filigree cross made by an skilled artisan in Africa. Later on, I designed earrings while on a trip in Tunisia and had them made there, in Djerba. A pair reminiscent of another era, made of silver disks of different sizes soldered together with flat links chain. The disks are adorned with Arabic script. Amongst the way, I have also designed my own engagement ring (a nice diamond affair), my wedding ring (more diamonds yummy!), more earrings, and rings.
I was starting to realise that I never had enough jewellery, always wanted more. I remember when I was 13, already making my own earrings, that we had a little competition at school where we had to wear a different pair of earrings each day and I won as I already had 27 pairs. SO I just thought, it would be so fabulous to just know how to make jewellery myself, wouldn’t it? I could just learn. So a few months later, I enrolled in my first class at Central St Martins, jewellery for beginners at the bench, with a talented silversmith called Angela Cork and Voila!

slim vases © Angela Cork

What kind of formal education / training or experience do you have that applies to what you do?
I still use my maths to calculate the length of metal necessary to make a ring, or to convert masses i.e. “how to calculate how heavy or how expensive a gold version of a jewel will be when I have made a silver one first”. Even my chemistry skills are handy when mixing acids in a safe way and knowing how to dispose of them. My art and illustration skills come together when sketching ideas for a client or a new collection.

Having also worked as a printmaker lead me to use etching in some of my works, and allows me to illustrate on metal, like on this piece which combines etching and enamelling.

Pendant © Catherine Marche, etching on copper, silver, enamel, cultured baroque pearls

My formal life in IT has made me PC and MAC literate and helps me learn news software like CAD for 3D jewellery design more easily. My foreign languages are very useful to deal with my clients from abroad and understand their needs.

I have taken classes in jewellery with various tutors: Angela cork, Melissa Hunt, Niall Paisley, Sonia Cheadle, Masako Hamagushi, Alexandra Huergua… at various institutions to hone my skills and graduated with a City and Guild in design and jewellery, and several certificates from Holts academy of jewellery.

setting a diamond

I was nominated for an award at Holts academy of jewellery and a finalist at the Precious awards. I am so grateful that I received a getting started grant from the Goldsmith Company that allowed me to buy my first tools and a jewellers bench.

What steps did you take to create to turn your art/craft into a business?
A few years ago, an artist friend had a friend who opened a boutique in London. She needed little pouches and lavender bags. As I have a sewing machine, I said I could of course help her. She noticed some of the bracelets I was wearing and decided to stock some of my creations too.

Firing casting moulds

I first started to list some of my work on an American website called etsy http://kalicat.etsy.com in 2007 and sold an item a few weeks later. It was a great way to raise money for my courses and training, so I listed (and sold) more creations online. As well as a few other online venues like Dawanda in Germany http://kalicat.dawanda.com  in the UK NOTHS http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/partners/catherinemarchejewellery/products, and Folksy. With the consolidation of my skills, I started to establish a stronger online presence and my fund raising for training started to become a real business. I also registered with the Inland Revenue as a sole trader as I was aware that I had to declare the income generated by my sales.

© Catherine Marche, Model is wearing Volutes cuff, sculptural ring, Carnelian earrings, Botswana Agate necklace, rose quartz bracelet and pearl ring

I had a professional photo shoot of my jewellery with a model.

I joined a few associations that help designers like Craft Central, Hidden Art and formed collectives with like minded jewellers: Wow Jewels http://www.wowjewels.co.uk with 7 other jewellers from the Association of Contemporary Jewellery ACJ and the high profile JeDeCo, of which I am a founding member Http://www.jedeco.co.uk.

I also now sell my jewellery in a few boutiques and galleries like IceKandi in East London and Wix Emporium in the USA.

Do you have a studio? Please describe your work setting?
I started with a little furniture in the living room to then transform my painting studio to a jewellery/art (organised mess) room and have now taken the step of renting premises in the heart of Hatton Garden in London. My work setting consist of a bench, a sink, and many tools like a rolling mill, a polishing motor, shears, an etching tank…

What are your tools of the trade, do you have a favourite?
Many many tools to choose from. My favourite is probably a 0.4 mm pen like a pilot G-tech to draw my little ideas.

How do you maintain balance in your life between work and play?
Balance? What balance? Isn’t work and play the same when you enjoy what you are doing? Moving my studio away from home refrains me from being tempted to go there in the middle of the night so that is a real improvement.

Evening taffetas Skirt and Jewellery by Catherine Marche

Do you ever have creative slumps? What do you do to get inspired?
I have been blessed with a vivid imagination. Not enough time to express all my ideas. Inspiration comes from everything, everywhere. What inspire me most are emotions, dance and music. Nothing like a good tune to create in rhythm.

Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
I will have moved to larger premises with a few employees. My jewellery will be sold by high end boutiques in LA, NYC, Moscow, Japan… Designing jewellery for film sets, working along with fashion designers and be showcased in major fashion magazines.

What advice would you give someone starting out on their own?
Be persistent, believe in yourself even if your vision is different from the norm. Do not hesitate to ask for advice and to hire people with the skills you do not master like PR or bookkeeping for example. And be persistent !

Stacking diamond rings in 18K yellow, white and rose gold

Who are some of your favourite artists/designers/makers?
I have great admiration for the work of Mr Hiroshi Suzuki, who “sculpts” silver sheets with his hammers to create wonderful vessels which evocate waves on a stormy sea. His studio is also amazing, he owns hundreds of hammers.

If you had time what new skill would you like to learn?
I am an eternal student, keeps me young and fresh and opens my eyes and mind to an infinity of possibilities. I would like to immerse myself in the world of gemstones by taking a class with GIA to qualify as a gemmologist, and would be delighted to work along Asian Goldsmith to learn the tricks of the trade inherent to the specific way they make jewellery. I would also like to learn to be like Mary Poppins able to tidy up with a magic word.

What is the best part of what you do, and the worst?
The best part is that I get to wear what I make and meet well established and fascinating artists like Stephen Webster, David Marshall, Shaun Leane, Tracey Emin… I also have an excuse to travel far far away to look for unusual gemstones.

The worst is that being in your studio can be lonely.

Waves Bracelet, 22K gold Vermeil and many hours of work

Tell us what your perfect day is / would be.
Having an au pair and mother help at home would be formidable. Mmm, my perfect day: I often joke to my husband that my body was designed to live happily in an exotic place and not for grey skies therefore, here we go…

Being woken up by the sound of the waves and a soft breeze in the palm trees coming from my open window. Going for an early swim in a hot tropical sea, and having an exotic breakfast; Taking the children to school and creating new jewellery in the morning . Lunch with a celebrity fashion stylist to discuss which pieces she will need for her next photo shoot. Afternoon, meeting with clients and suppliers, then back at studio. Picking up the children, from school, family time and diner. Evening, getting prepped up in a stylish evening dress, with a nice cocktail ring and jewellery made mu MOI for a nice little reception in an art gallery where I will meet a few stars who like my cooking and also absolutely need more of my jewellery. Back home, remove make up, put on perfume and nightie, then, au dodo!

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, the sky above the beach ……… © Catherine Marche 2008