A Fleeting Beauty

Allyson Simmie discusses the inspiration behind her latest series:

20 years ago this year I was honoured to be part of a team of artists chosen to design and produce the new NWT Mace for the Legislature of the Northwest Territories. We designed the 'crown' of the mace to resemble a three dimensional snowflake.

As part of my visual research for this design, I came across the work of Wilson A. Bentley,  a pioneer in microphotography who produced thousands of images of snow crystals. 

I found the variety and beauty of these snowflakes to be absolutely breathtaking, and ever since then I have been working toward finding a way to capture that delicate beauty in sterling silver.

Since that initial spark of inspiration, new technology has emerged that has enabled me to make this dream a reality.

I find it amazing that this technology allows me to create these earrings using an exact replica of a 100+ year -old snowflake. I wish that W.A. Bentley was still around to see it!