Justine Austen is both a jeweller and miniature sculpture artist.  She is fascinated with the way people communicate using body adornment and the identity they can create for themselves through a piece of jewellery. Using precious metals, pearls, pyrite, jet, onyx, crystals and beads, Austen’s pieces are striking and individual in material and form.

“I particularly enjoy the way each piece develops new meanings, other than those I have attached, through the wearer and the viewer of the piece once it has left my hands.”

Over her years of making, Austen has explored the symbolism and emotional attachment people give to jeweller, investing in her work a sense of history, a story, a hidden aspect that can be discovered.


Exhibitions at Pieces of Eight
Monster Zoo
October 13 - November 14, 2009

My Pet Rock
June 24 - July 19, 2008