Cynthia Spencer Project
Happy New Year!
I thought I’d share some exciting news to kick off the New Year…
A project myself and several friends worked on in Memory of my late Wife Janice to help raise funds and awareness of the Cynthia Spencer Hospice (who provided support for Janice both during Palliative and End-of-life care.) went live in 2023!
Due to ongoing health issues, it’s taken time to get this written down. However, using the power of AI, a PodCast of the project is available in this YouTube video.
I will say before getting into the Nitty Gritty of the project, everyone involved in the project gave their time freely, working in their spare time as and when time/health permitted. Even more amazing the Jeweller in question is providing all profit from each sale of these amazing pieces to the Cynthia Spencer Hospice. This I felt was unprecedented as Charity Jewellery projects I’d researched only donated a small percentage. This is a testimony to the excellence Steffans hold themselves too and their unwavering commitment to supporting the Town and people. If you’ve never tried their wonderful store, please do, they have multiple locations where the customer experience is something retailers could learn from.
To learn more of the people involved in making this happen, please check out their websites.
https://www.cynthiaspencer.org.uk
https://steffans.co.uk/search?q=Cynthia%20Spencer
https://www.nathansmithartist.com
With ongoing health issues, I’ve been unable to participate in the typical Race for Life, Mud Runs and other fundraising events. As such, I needed to think of something meaningful I could do both in Janice’s Memory, support an amazing Hospice along with hopefully bringing a smile to others.
I wanted to bring something that might help the hospice longer term than a one off event. That idea was a piece of Jewellery.
We have a good relationship with a well recognised Premier Jeweller who have worked with a number of big celebrity names over the years, and have always been advocates of the Town, promoting the area and championing local issues (Never seen a business as so passionate about the area). I knew I’d be nervous asking, after all I’m no celebrity… Also I had no idea what the jewellery would look like or if indeed the project was viable, though I know they worked with Frank Bruno to create something for his mental health foundation https://www.thefrankbrunofoundation.co.uk
I nervously approached Wes at Steffans to ask if this was possible. Without hesitation Wes asked, what do you need? I hadn’t even approached the team at Cynthia Spencer at this point, I was just assessing if a project was viable and of interest to one of the coolest Jewellers on the planet.
Shortly after I approached the Hospice and was put in contact with their Corporate Fundraising team and pitched a hypothetical idea. They were interested in what this could look like and were on board as they hadn’t worked with Jewellery projects before. This surprised me!
Then of course COVID kicked off, along with my anxiety and so it was close to Christmas 2021 before the project was resurrected. The team at Steffans quickly produced a prototype to promote discussion and kickstart the design phase. I was extremely impressed given how close to Christmas we were especially as the team behind Steffans are always very busy.
It was time to bring in the big guns… I asked my Internationally acclaimed Artist friends to see if they would be interested in helping further the design. Check them out, NathanSmithArtist.com and ClairePound.co.uk you’ll will have seen their work possibly without even knowing their influences having worked with big names in publishing and design.
Due to COVID restrictions, we held various Zoom/Skype calls with all the Stakeholders. In corporate land, this is quite common for many projects I’ve worked on over the years, due to geographic locations worldwide, but… never before when everyone would have been accessible locally had it not been for lockdown and other restrictions. Anyone else find that odd?
Nathan and Claire sketched designs using the Hospices Logo, modelling the designs in zBrush. I convinced my Friend Spring Zhou at Anycubic to sponsor a Resin 3D Printer, and surprisingly Spring agreed and arranged delivery of an amazing Printer with their Craftsman Resin.
Interestingly at the time the project initially kicked off, both Steffans and Cynthia Spencer Hospice were celebrating 45 years anniversaries, having incorporated in 1976. Nathan and Claire created an idea for a selection of rings. Below are KeyShot renders of the artist’s original ideas trying different materials to see how they may work.
After initial discussion, we decided rings would probably limit the audience and add complexity due to finger sizes etc, and could limit who may purchase this. We needed something more accessible, that could be layered with everyday wear, jewellery suitable for both men and women alike.
Claire sketched up some ideas, Nathan modelled them in zBrush before exporting them to an STL file I could load up into my slicer software and print to test them out.
Nathan provided the technical files I’d need to load into my Slicer Software before printing in Resin.
Finally, we settled on the idea of Pendants, they can be worn with almost anything, can be layered with other jewellery, blending more with your current fashion. The pictures below show the iteration of designs we tried and tested.
Nathan and Claire worked long hours on these designs, whilst making it look so easy at the same time. Below are some photo’s of sample Resin 3D Prints I was able to post out to stakeholders to determine which designs they preferred and which were viable from a production run perspective.
The printers did an amazing job of keeping the fine detail, the photo’s don’t quite do them justice, Though in the end, the old mantra came to the fore…
Keep It Simple…
After some minor design tweaks, collectively we decided these two designs best captured our end goals, simple, timeless jewellery that can be worn with anything, subtle enough that encompassed the Charity’s logo.
Once again, the 3D Prints were sent to the stakeholders. There’s one thing seeing artist renders in a 2D document, another to actually hold the design in your hands and see how that might look on a person as a piece of jewellery… for this 3D Printing excelled! Stakeholders could hold, put on a chain, bracelet etc and test the designs out for a fraction of the cost it would be to make these in precious metals etc.
The final decision was made to go with the design on the right. The next phase started. Technical Files passed over to the team at Steffans, where very surprisingly they produced the first prototype extremely quickly. I still have no idea how they achieved it (Magic!), and here is the very first one worn by Artist Claire.
Shortly after, a lovely lady called Julles London was asked by Wes to get involved with the project, Julles is well known in the Jewellery trade and with her help, Julles was on the case to produce a batch of these, which included improvements to the polish, finish and ideas to pair the piece with.
It can be worn as a charm on a bracelet, as a pendant, it could even be a keyring or earrings etc, the possibilities are endless.
Julles, paired the pendant with Sterling Silver and Yellow Agate gemstone beads.
Agate is known as the spiritual stone of Harmony that encourages balance of mind, body and soul.
Echoing the colour closest associated with the wonderful Cynthia Spencer Hospice.
There’s a lot I don’t know about Jewellery, other than it looks “Pretty” is the amount of regulation that surrounds the industry. In IT we develop software that is certified against certain standards like PA-DSS, PCI-DSS, ISO27018, ISO27xxx, NIST SP800-53 etc. However typically once certified, software is licensed accordingly. Changes may have to be re-certified but typically it’s taken as read…
Jewellery on the other hand, has to be verified by an ASSAY Office. I wrongly assumed that a single design could receive the hallmarks for the year it’s produced. Apparently not… Every single piece of jewellery has to go to the ASSAY office for validation and approval to receive the stamped hallmarks you see, and… Jewellers are not permitted to sell it without those approvals in place. Wes explained the process to me, and given the volume of Jewellery sold by anyone up and down the country, that’s a shed load of work!
Anyhoo, I digress…
The final version was professionally photographed and the items went live in the store in 2023.
These can be purchased direct via the Steffans website or in-store. They even offer engraving.
The Bracelet: https://steffans.co.uk/products/steff-cynthia-spencer-silver-yellow-agate-bead-bracelet
The Pendant: https://steffans.co.uk/products/steff-cynthia-spencer-silver-pendant-necklace
If you’d like to know more check out:-
https://steffans.co.uk/pages/cynthia-spencer-project-with-steffans-jewellers
https://steffans.co.uk/blogs/style-guide/supporting-cynthia-spencer-hospice-jasons-story
https://www.cynthiaspencer.org.uk/community-event/steffans-jewellers
And please remember, all profits are donated to the Cynthia Spencer Hospice which provides amazing care to those who sadly need their services.
You’re asking the question, what was my contribution to the project, given the amazing work, dedication and commitment behind the team that pulled all this together?
I just made a few phone calls and asked for help.
If you have an amazing idea to help support your preferred charity, then don’t delay, you may be surprised how many of your friends are prepared to help achieve your dreams.
In memory of my Late Wife, Janice 💔💔💔
www.muckypaws.com 