I’m always nervous about attending my own Private Views but I’ve just been to Istanbul for the PV of Fusion 2010 at the Bir Nokta gallery. This exhibition of seventeen British designer/makers is the first one organised by the enterprising Handmade in Britain and Handmade Interiors. None of us knew what to expect but the gallery is beautiful and all the work looked great. Bir Nokta is set in an old apartment with several intimate rooms and a very large roof terrace and boy, do the Turks know how to party! It went on until late, the wine and canapés didn’t stop coming and several of the very glamorous guests (see next para) entertained us with very professional solo singing performances.

Istanbul has hundreds of galleries and this PV was one of ten happening around the city that evening, but it was well attended and the guests included a number of prominent Istanbul socialites, very exciting to watch papping in operation, I’m looking forward to appearing in Istanbul Hello shortly.

I was delighted to see the socialites loving my work, as despite being blinged up to the eyeballs with their own diamonds and Chanel bijoux they were racking my bangles up their arms, pinning the brooches onto their expensive bosoms and making significant purchases, totally thrilling.

The jewellery has been a bit of an experiment really, I use found materials and 23 carat gold leaf in my paintings and realised a couple of years ago that I could translate my techniques into ‘wearable artwork’. I began with small brooches which have gradually become bigger and bolder and then started making bangles. The jewellery is also a useful calling card for the paintings and gets me into a different market. Later this month I’ll be exporting a collection of bangles to les lucioles, a concept boutique in the heart of Shanghai, it’ll be interesting to see how the Chinese respond……………..

Anyhow, about Istanbul, what a fantastic city, I was overwhelmed with history, I spent yesterday at Topkapi Palace (so big that a day is not long enough to do it justice), we got there early and were able to wander around the almost deserted Harem, how I wish that those walls could talk. The atmosphere and decoration was incredible, here’s a pic of the Sultan’s exquisitely painted private dining room.

Interestingly I also saw Mohammed’s Tooth, the Prophet John’s Arm and the Saucepan of Prophet Abraham!

Visited a selection of other historic sites including Saint Saviour at Chora, a small Byzantine jewel of a church that became a mosque and is now a museum, it was encrusted with the most exquisite mosaics I have ever seen (see pic), utterly inspirational. Istanbul is somewhere I’ve always wanted to visit as it is where my grandfather ended up when he fled Russia in the last days of the Revolution…….it didn’t disappoint and I know I’ll be back there soon.

Mosaic ceiling at the Church of St Saviour at Chora, Istanbul