British artisan, Mat Brown is an accomplished metal smith as well as a wood worker - an unusual combination of skills. But what caught my eye in
his Etsy shop, Shinium, was his inlaid glow-in-the-dark epoxy and wood contemporary jewelry collection.
Mat uses a variety of sustainably sourced woods for his line. The hollowed out areas are simple given his modern design approach. These are filled with blue glow- in-the-dark epoxy. Mat says,
"Glow epoxy requires "charging" with light before use - normal sunlight is good, but for a really bright glow, hold it right next to a bright light source for a few seconds." What great conversational pieces at dinner parties, eh?
I asked Mat why he chose to do this. He said,
"There wasn't any specific inspiration, I just thought it might look nice. I knew about the technique from more traditional woodworking, but you don't normally use glow-in-the-dark pigments for traditional epoxy inlay!" Doing something radically different from others is what made his jewelry stand out.
Which does he like better? Metal smithing or wood working? Mat said,
"On the making things front, it's a close call. I enjoy making all sorts of things but I think I slight prefer silversmithing. But that's nto to say wood isn't lovely to work with, because it is. There's something very satisfying about woodworking that I don't get from metalworking. Ideally, combining the two would be nice." Perhaps we can look forward to metal and wood designs from Mat in the future!
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