A flower-set cocktail ring heads north for Dazzle

Tonight is the private view for Dazzle at Dovecot Studios in Edinburgh, and it always feels a little like sending a piece of the bench up to Scotland for the summer.

Dazzle has been part of the Edinburgh Festival since the early eighties, and this year marks its 44th at Dovecot. It is one of the UK's longest-running contemporary jewellery exhibitions — a curated selling show where you find handmade, often one-off work you simply won't see gathered anywhere else. This year's exhibition runs from 7 to 30 August, and entry is free.

Among the pieces I've sent is a flower-set cocktail ring. It gathers ruby, spinel and garnet into a small cluster — warm reds reading from deep crimson through to a softer rose — set in 18ct gold and silver. The stones sit in gold buttercup collets, opening like petals against the paler silver, so the whole ring holds together as a single bloom rather than a row of separate stones. It's the kind of piece I most enjoy making: quiet in construction, generous in colour, and meant to be worn and turned in the light.

If you're in Edinburgh this month, do go and see it in person. A cluster like this never quite photographs the way it moves on the hand.

Kate

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Dazzle Contemporary Jewellery, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, 7–30 August 2026. Free entry.