Wuthering Heights – the book that’s been muse to dramaticists, musicians and filmmakers aplenty is the inspiration behind a remarkable piece of jewellery being created in North Yorkshire.
Visitors to this month’s new Pateley Jewellery Quarter event this month will be able to see the unusual artwork in progress as well as have the opportunity to discuss the work behind it with jeweller Joanne Gowan.
Joanne explained how Emily Bronte’s 1847 masterpiece has impacted her as an artist:
The part of Wuthering Heights which always stays in forefront of my mind is actually within the third chapter where the narrator’s ghostly experience with an icy hand outside his window, the tree knocking at the window and Cathy’s ‘Let me in’” says Joanne, “then in the concluding chapters her ghost is always there, ever present.
I hope that I can do it some kind of justice, not an easy thing to do by any means especially as my understanding of the meanings within it have developed and changed in parallel with my own life and emotional experiences.
In a strange twist of fate when I was only 13, Kate Bush released her Wuthering Heights which at that time spoke to me exactly as I felt about the novel…and started me on new creative journeys with a passion for music, which in its turn led me to art college.
That was 40 years ago and little could the young art student Joanne have known how much the dramatic landscapes that the novel conjured would change the direction of her life.
Joanne said:
The seeds of my love of Yorkshire were sown when I was very young, indeed decades before I ever visited the county. From the age of nine or ten I read novels voraciously: Dickens, Hardy, Elliot, Austin and the Brontes, and a lot of the literature, poems and plays of that era.
But it was always the Bronte novels that fascinated me most, the ones that over the years I have read over and over, my understanding of which has grown and altered as I have. Through their writing I developed a love for the wilds and the moors that I had never seen: until I was in my 40s and came for a week every year with my four children, renting an old North Yorkshire farmhouse with no neighbours and no internet or telephone signal.
And so another 20 years on and I am living here and breathing the wild and the wuthering, and wanting to try to express my own impressions of my favourite Bronte novel: Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, in my own artistic medium of precious jewellery.
During the past year, Joanne has been liaising with a stone carver from the renowned gemstone cutting region of Idar-Oberstein in Germany, to create a carved rock crystal image of Cathy. This carved head is approaching completion and she will have it at her studio for the launch of the Pateley Jewellery Quarter on the weekend of 25/26 April. The design, a vignette or picture piece, can be worn as a brooch or pendant but also is intended to be displayed as a work of art in precious materials.
It will represent that ‘Cathy’ moment at the window which in many ways defines and saturates the whole story.
Joanne said:
Many completed pieces of jewellery in my studio have the influence of the Yorkshire landscape running within them. Indeed it has been an influence on my work for very many years. So now I am delighted that I can call this place my heartfelt home.
I am always very happy to discuss my work and to create jewellery pieces for individual clients which will speak to them in a personal and life-affirming way. Since neolithic times people have felt the joy of creating and wearing jewellery, its possession seems to be an intrinsic part of the human condition. It feels the perfect time for me to create an iconic art piece of Wuthering Heights.
Joanne, who relocated permanently two years ago, is one of a group of talented jewellers coming together to launch the Pateley Jewellery Quarter, a new initiative designed to showcase local craftsmanship and make their studios more welcoming to visitors. The event also highlights the resilience of the town’s creative community. Two of the jewellers taking part, Debby Moxon and Ian Simm, are currently working from a temporary space after their long-standing studio was severely damaged when a fire tore through the roof of the King Street Workshops in September 2024.
Despite the setback, they will be among the artists welcoming visitors during the launch weekend.
The studios opening for the event include:
Joanne Gowan
Joanne has worked as a jeweller for more than 40 years and has lived and worked in Pateley Bridge since 2024. Her fine art jewellery using traditional handmaking techniques uses 18ct gold, silver, and platinum and features unusual gemstones in distinctive cuts chosen to suit each individual design.
Alice Clarke
Alice returned to her hometown of Pateley Bridge in 2024 after running her jewellery business in the Falkland Islands for several years. Her work draws inspiration from wild landscapes, from the Falklands to the Yorkshire moors. Designs begin as wax carvings before being cast in-house and finished with stones carefully set by hand.
Debby Moxon and Ian Simm
Debby and Ian worked from Studio 1 at King Street Workshops for more than 30 years. Their studio was destroyed in the 2024 fire and they are currently awaiting its reconstruction. For the launch event they will showcase their distinctive work in Studio 6. Their jewellery uses heat-treated titanium combined with silver fittings, inspired by the dramatic landscapes of the Yorkshire Dales.
Joanne added:
Our styles are all very different – from handmade gold, platinum and gemstone jewellery to wax-carved cast pieces and modern coloured titanium designs.
Between us there’s something for every taste and budget, and visitors can either buy from our collections or commission a completely one-off piece.
To mark the launch, the jewellers have also invited a small group of Yorkshire designer jewellers to join the event with pop-up stalls in Studio 6: Saima Jewel (Shipley), Mark Veevers and Adele Taylor (Sheffield), and Karen Ward (Selby, York).
The organisers hope the initiative will help establish Pateley Bridge as a destination for jewellery lovers and visitors looking for locally made work.
Event Details
Pateley Jewellery Quarter Launch Event
King Street Workshops
Pateley Bridge, HG3 5LE
Saturday 25 April: 4pm – 7pm
Sunday 26 April: 10am – 4pm
Visitors are welcome to explore the studios, meet the makers and see a wide range of handcrafted jewellery.
