Altiora Peto: Ever Striving Higher - Rowena Henderson

When I was studying at university, I was actively discouraged from including beadwork, as my lecturers told me I wouldn't be taken seriously as a jeweller. But in more recent times, with the popularity of contemporary geometric beadwork, the global projects between beaders and the rise in shared knowledge, people's opinion of small beadwork is very much evolving into something bigger. Being both a small beadworker and a bench jeweller, my background uniquely places me in the centre of the chasm between fine jewellery and beaded jewellery. One is celebrated as fine art, whilst the other is all-too-often dismissed as ‘handmade’. But change is coming”. Let’s look at how. The next step? Bead education for all.