EVENDESIGN – JUDI PATSON
JUDI WORKS IN THEMES. HER THEMES DEVELOP OVER TIME AND THROUGH WHIM
In 2001 I was working in the film industry as a first assistant director. After 9/11, with less work coming into town, it left a lot of free time on my hands. I had a big list of ideas I wanted to try out. On top of the list was the idea to take a level and make it into a piece of jewellery – a reminder for my friends to help keep them balanced. All my friends were married, buying houses, doing renovations, working on careers, and having babies. All awesome but seemed like a reminder for balance was needed. The idea caught on right away; the fourth piece I made ended up on the masthead of the National Post along with a big article. Once I saw that I figured I wasn’t in the film industry anymore, and I began the journey of my eighth career designing jewellery for my company evendesign.
When you check out the evendesign website, you recognize that Judi works in themes. Her themes develop over time and through whim. Sometimes she is focusing on a particular aspect of her life and the theme develops, and other times she thinks of a piece or collection that she would like to make and the theme comes after. She loves to build a story around each piece and sometimes she will create a piece, see how people like it, customer feedback, and then build on that piece or theme from there. She loves to be out in nature and often times her surroundings will inspire new ideas and pieces.
Her studio was in an upcycled shipping container on the beach. I loved how I was able to transform such a utilitarian thing into such a beautiful working space. It seemed fitting for my company as it is essentially what I try to do with my jewellery: Take objects: levels, compasses, rare earth magnets, LEGO and transform them into beautiful signature pieces of classic jewellery.
