For five generations the Barber family have been handmaking jewellery in the town of Fermoy. Using his father's tools, Simon is inspired by countryside rambles, and the wild Irish landscape.
Simon is a fifth generation jeweller from Co.Cork, so you could say that jewellery is in the blood. Founded in 1869, the family business has passed from generation to generation, and it's in the family workshop that Simon honed his skills alongside his father, Dermot. Having left home to study art and then horology, Simon returned to begin experimenting and creating what would eventually become his own range of handmade jewellery.
Simon still uses many of the tools and techniques passed from father to son for five generations to create his own unique style of jewellery. Simon's designs are inspired by a love of the natural world, with its wealth of textures and organic shapes, and by the stories of the past that live in the landscape in crumbling ruins and ancient woodlands. To these, Simon brings his own story and interpretation, capturing his love of Ireland past, present and future.
With a keen interest in photography, countryside rambles and climbing trees, Simon is often found creating new things from the old and brings a unique sensibility to all his work. Simon's jewellery is a living story of Irish design and heritage, and each unique piece contains five generations of family history, skill and experience. Rich in texture, in it you can feel a love for the Irish landscape, its shifting skies, rolling rivers, crumbling ruins and rich native woodlands. It’s a story that lives on with every tap of the jeweller's hammer.