So what if Annette Gabbedey was born without fingers? What many would consider a disability clearly hasn’t hindered her ability to craft gorgeously intricate diamond-studded and opal-studded trinkets. In fact, she argues that it’s actually an advantage.
Based in St Catherine’s Frome, in the UK, the 48-year-old metallurgist has been crafting jewellery for nearly a quarter century. She doesn’t rely on any specialised tools for her work, but rather she adapts conventional files, blowtorches and other jewellery-making implements to suit her needs. As she explains to documentary filmmaker, David Hedges:
Obviously making jewellery is very tactile and something you do with your hands. I do find that people usually do have that usual question of “how do you manage to make jewellery” and the day to day things as well. And my answer to that is really, I tend to look at people with fingers and wonder, “How can you manage with fingers, because they must get in the way.”
Either way, the quality of Gabbedey’s craftsmanship is undeniable. Check out some of her pieces here.