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Floral fantasies with jeweller Cassandra Goad

Cassandra Goad In partnership with Cassandra Goad

With the RHS Chelsea Flower Show around the corner (May 24-28), and set to be even more glorious than ever, we focus on Chelsea-based jeweller Cassandra Goad’s passion for nature, and her use of floral motifs throughout some of her favourite collections. 

At this time of year the hedgerows are bursting with wild flowers, and gardens start to reveal the magnificent colours of their plants, in amongst the green borders. Flowers are cut and brought inside, and it’s the time when trails of flowers festoon wedding tables, and summer parties are filled with early summer blooms. 

‘Flowers are a constant inspiration in my designs’, enthuses the jeweller, ‘their delicate, scented presence on the desk in my study always helps me to be creative. Through the window, I look out over the garden watching the seasons move from the soft shades of spring to bursts of summer brightness, until autumn comes with its golden glow, then winter crisps everything with its hoary white frosts.’

Cassandra Goad’s floral designs are perfect for wearing now, and then beyond, to transport you back to the most beautiful time of year in the garden. 

Roses 

‘The first thing I do in the mornings is go out and pick some flowers for the breakfast table. It might just be a single early dewy rose that I put in a glass vase, or a bunch of astrantias and peonies from the cutting garden.’

Cassandra’s beautiful Rose Diamond ring evokes the classic english summer smell of blooming roses in an English garden

Viola

‘In the language of flowers it is the blue of Violas that symbolises fidelity’, explains the Jeweller, ‘my Grandmother loved them and to remind me of her I like to set the watery blue iolite in the petals of my Viola pendant’ 

Plum blossom

‘I love to walk under a cherry tree in springtime, especially when the wind blows and the pink petals are like confetti all around me’, the jeweller continues, ‘spring in Japan is when the plum blossoms decorate everywhere in clouds of pinkness, so even the busy cities seem enchanting’.

This is where the jeweller gleaned her inspiration for this gorgeous collection, including the gold studs pictured above.  

Astrantia

‘Beautiful, confident and elegant, the Astrantia flowers seem like muses for a couture show along the runway border of my garden’ says Cassandra, whose collection was inspired by the long stamens which seem to ‘spread their arms open to the sun like parachutes’

The pieces, like this pendant  pictured above are timeless, designed to be worn all year round

Cavolfiore

‘I have long admired the florets of cauliflowers (cavolfiore) and their bridal whiteness, held perfectly in an embrace of fresh green leaves’, explains Cassandra, whose Cavolfiore design, in turquoise, pearl, onyx and coral, was inspired by a journey to Sicily. Here, the vegetable markets are brimming with freshly grown produce ‘even sparkling with diamond-like dew, if you are early enough’.

Klover

The allure of a four leaf clover can live on as a piece of jewellery with Cassandra’s infinitely wearable collection

‘I love to give my Klover pendant as a gift, as the saying goes: the first leaf is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck’. 

Frangipani

‘My favourite flower from my honeymoon are frangipani, whose white, open blooms leave a lingering heavenly scent for hours.’

These earrings are bright and playful and capture the senses as much as the flowers they’re inspired by.

Daisy

‘Summer afternoons are about sitting in the garden making daisy chains’,Cassandra insists, and these dainty designs evoke just those moments—perfect for wearing with summer dresses whether aged 18 or 80.