I feel as though we’re venturing out on a wonderful adventure. The wedding industry has a handful of leading lights who are embracing a more sustainable future, inspiring all of us (I hope!) to be more considerate of our planet when we think about weddings. Couture bridal accessories designer Clare Lloyd is one of those leading the industry towards something beautiful and ethical, and we’ve been so excited to write about Clare’s autumnal Omorfa Fylla collection.

Alongside the amazing talents of Kate Cullen and a team of inspiring wedding creatives, this glorious photoshoot features the Omorfa Fylla collection by Clare Lloyd Accessories. We’ve focused on Clare’s designs today; you can see more on our instagram. The editorial was featured on Love My Dress, where you can discover more gorgeous autumnal wedding styling inspiration from the team. I’ll leave you with Clare to find out how this beautiful collection of bridal accessories came to be.

“This collection has been a very long time in the making. I’ve always been someone to offer an alternative to the mass production and consumption of the main stream wedding industry and I have always tried to make my business and creations in a considered and sustainable way but as the years have gone on, this has become even more essential to me.

I started work on these new designs about two years ago now and it’s taken a very long time to get to the stage where it was ready to photograph and show to people. Having a pandemic hasn’t helped!

I had wanted to make a completely sustainable and eco conscious collection and show that bridal accessories and jewellery could be made in an earth friendly way, with recycled materials and become beautiful heirlooms to treasure.

I really love the idea of having something precious made for you that you can pass down to your daughter – something that was made especially for you, something that becomes part of your story and something that will always remind you of someone or something loved.

I also wanted to show that luxury shouldn’t cost the earth with thoughtless or mass production. The wedding industry can unfortunately be wasteful and I don’t want my tiny business or work to be a part of that.

So Omorfa Fylla slowly came to life. It’s named after the Greek for ‘Beautiful Leaves’ and each piece in the collection is named after either a Greek or Latin word or phrase for something botanical.

I’ve always been fascinated and completely in love with those exquisite Ancient Greek and Roman laurel and oak wreath made from beaten gold. There is one in the British Museum that is thousands of years old and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I wanted to create a modern take on an ancient craft and make beautiful leaves from recycled metals.

I’ve been a jeweller for many years now so it was also good to use more of my bench skills in this collection with everything being hand pierced from sheet metals and soldered together in my studio. All the metals are recycled from the UK, I don’t use any chemicals in my jewellery making processes and even my tools in my studio are antique or passed down from my jewellery mentor.

Each piece is made by my hands to order and the processes and tools I’ve used are ancient and old too. It’s a very special collection and can be made in brass, sterling silver or 9 carat gold. I’ve added in some fair trade semi-precious gemstones to some of the designs that have come from a small supplier in Cornwall and I’ve used plant dyed bamboo silk ribbons.

Most of the headpieces can be turned into a piece of jewellery afterwards so either a pair of statement earrings or a neckpiece or you can wear them again as hair accessories. They aren’t overly ‘wedding-y’ so I hope they will be worn long after a wedding day has passed and ultimately, as they are made of precious metals they will last for a very long time. Omorfa Fylla has been a long time coming but it has marked quite an important transition for my business too as I’ve moved more into making eco conscious headpieces and using materials, tools and processes that are ethical and environmentally kind too.

The collection shoot featured suppliers who also work in an ethical and sustainable way. Bramble and Wild’s beautiful bouquet was from their home grown flowers, Kate took some of the photos on two 1970’s vintage film cameras, Rachel Burgess works with tiny micro businesses and one of the dresses was made from recycled fabrics, Kate Edmondson who provided the asymmetrical dress is another designer maker who creates beautiful made to order dresses. Jennifer from Jennifer’s dressing table uses vegan products for hair and make up. We did the shoot in the Silk Mill Gallery which is a restored textile mill and an alternative wedding venue. It’s also home to my studio.

Photographer and styling – Kate Cullen www.katecullen.co.uk
Hair accessories & jewellery – Clare Lloyd https://www.clarelloyd.co.uk
Florals – www.brambleandwild.com
Dresses and gold shoes – www.rachelburgessbridalboutique.com
Asymmetric Dress – Kate Edmondson www.edmondsonbridal.co.uk
Ivory ribbon shoes – www.emmylondon.com
HMUA – www.jennifersdressingtable.co.uk
Venue – the Silk Mill, Frome https://silkmillstudios.co.uk/events/category/weddings/
Model – Chihiro Furukawa