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
We’re delighted to showcase this wonderful collection of bridal hair accessories and jewellery by the fabulously talented Clare Lloyd. Inspired by butterflies in the most exquisitely beautiful way, Clare’s Aurelian Collection combines fine handcrafted details with thoughtfully crafted botanical curves. A chemical free collection of handmade leaves and flowers, stems and buds from natural metals, glass and crystal, this is the one-of-a-kind accessory you’re likely to fall head over heels in love with. I always think of Clare’s handcrafted bridal pieces as heirlooms – they’re so beautifully made and wonderfully detailed.
“This collection was all about intricate botanical details and soft verdigris and metallic colours. I wanted these headpieces to look like floral illustrations weaving their way through your hair. The collection is named after ‘The Aurelian’ by Moses Harris which is a beautifully illustrated study of British moths and butterflies written in 1766 and each of my designs is named after a butterfly or moth.
I have made a collection of headpieces, hair pins and crowns that can be combined to create your own unique hair accessory with designs available in soft verdigris colours or in simple ivory and white tones.
This collection was the first complete collection where I really started to think carefully about the materials I used and where they came from.
I have never used any chemicals in my jewellery making work so I used salt and vinegar to create the verdigris effect on my raw brass leaves – time consuming and made the studio smell like a chip shop but no nasty chemicals used and some beautiful colours and effects achieved.
I also started to only use UK suppliers and a smaller range of materials with the exception of a lovely woman in America who presses some of the brass leaves used in this collection.
I started making my own headbands from copper stripped out of wire cables (my partner is an electrician so I get all my copper from his waste cable).
My Aurelian collection was really the turning point in me changing the way I worked and the materials I used.
The shoot took place at Hamswell House in Bath on the most perfect autumnal October day where the golden light was perfect and the views over the Bath countryside were beautiful.
SUPPLIER DETAILS
Hair accessories and jewellery by – Clare Lloyd Accessories
Photographer – @bowtieandbellephotography
Styling – Kate Cullen www.katecullen.co.uk
Florals – Claire Spiller
Dresses – Kate Edmondson www.kateedmondsonbridal.co.uk
Shoes – https://freyarose.com
Furniture – @tricia4vintage
Paper Goods – Laura Elizabeth Patrick www.lauraelizabethpatrick.com
HMUA – www.jennifersdressingtable.co.uk
Venue – Hamswell House, Bath https://www.hamswellhouse.co.uk
Model – Lilly Graham via Bame Models
The English Wedding Blog exists to fire your imagination; to bring you the most beautiful wedding ideas and creative styling so you can incorporate unique special touches into your day. Exquisite design and breathtaking photography is a part of that, and today’s feature is more than a little special for me.
Working alongside the uniquely talented Verona Lain Photography, I crafted the calligraphy pieces in today’s feature by hand using divine papers from Paperchase and a traditional dip pen and ink. (Join me for a calligraphy workshop in Manchester next Friday if you’d like to learn to write like this!) They fit so perfectly with the little details: the wonderful ring from the London Victorian Ring Co. in its adorable box by La Petit Box. The silk ribbons by Kate Cullen are, as always, the prettiest touch.
(For those of you who are new to the English Wedding Blog, hi! I’m Claire – I write the blog, and I also write calligraphy for weddings – you can find me at www.ByMoonandTide.com!)
This is bridal inspiration with a darker twist, which I adore. Jo Fleming’s gowns are the most exquisitely fascinating pieces you can dream of – for this shoot she created a bridal gown with delicately embroidered flowers on the prettiest lace sleeves, and incredible lace back detail and train for our bride (whose hair by Laura Szydlowski is just stunning). The shoot is in two parts – the darker part is my favourite, with Joanne’s deliciously delicate gold lace dress with ruffles (could it be more Edwardian looking?!) and beautifully crafted leaves stealing my heart completely. Make sure you scroll all the way through this blog post to see the full set of images!
Lynsey from Some Enchanted Floral Design designed bouquets for our Edwardian bride with pale and delicate ranunculus in almost imperceptible pale blush tones and hellebores tucked into eucalyptus leaves. The darker option steals the show with blood-red roses, clematis and dramatic foliage for gorgeous texture.
Huge thanks to lovely Dmitry and Jana at Verona Lain Photography for asking me to be a part of their shoot, which has been featured on Hochzeitsguide (a huge worldwide wedding blog in English and German) as well as the beautiful New Zealand based wedding blog Chic Vintage Brides.
PHOTOGRAPHY: Verona Lain Photography
GOWNS: Joanne Fleming Design
MAKE-UP: Laura Szydlowski at Tori Harris Pro Team
CALLIGRAPHY: By Moon and Tide
FLORIST: Some Enchanted Floral Design
PROPS: Lula & Rye
SILK RIBBONS: Kate Cullen Styling
JEWELRY: London Victorian Ring
RING BOXES: La Petit Box
MODELS: Rebecca Garland (Profile Models)
FILM LAB: Canadian Film Lab