Britain's Next Gem Finalist: Carol Vickers' Presents the In Toto Collection

The search for Britain's Next Gem 2023 is nearly over...our two finalists Carol Vickers and Charlie Bailey, as well as our design team have been busy creating their collections in the background and it's officially time to vote!

You have until midnight on the 26th February to vote for your favourite collection, in the meantime learn more about Carol Vickers' collection In Toto below!

A message about In Toto from Carol Vickers:

I first went to silversmithing classes because I wanted to learn to make finger splints. The ones my doctors were providing were always too bendy and didn't fit well and instead, I decided I'd learn to make my own! So accessibility and jewellery have always been linked for me. Once I started making jewellery to sell, lots of my customers would talk about how they couldn’t wear their rings anymore due to arthritis or struggled to do up their necklaces due to manual dexterity trouble. I decided to try and help them, by making accessible jewellery.

My collection, In Toto, is designed for everyone. The sterling silver necklace clasps and rings are deliberately inclusive of (but not exclusively for) people with health conditions. The clasps feature large openings, fuss-free hooks, no fiddly clips and no magnets that are incompatible with pacemakers. They are decorative in their own right and are intended to be worn at the front of a necklace for ease of use. The matching rings are all size adjustable and can be shaped for comfort, to accommodate joint problems or hand swelling. The gemstones have been chosen not just for their beauty, but also their reputed abilities to calm and soothe the mind and body and include Malachite, Tanzanite, Sleeping Beauty Turquoise, Garnet and Amethyst. As a jewellery maker with my own health challenges, it's super important to me that my collection doesn't exclude anyone. Everyone deserves to feel beautiful, and I hope In Toto will enable more people to make and wear jewellery they love.

"In Toto" means "as a whole" and I chose the name because to me it represents embracing the whole of you as a person. Having a long-term health condition is hard enough, without having to give up your rings and necklaces too! I really wanted circular images to represent the collection; a reference to both the round gemstones in the designs and the idea that a circle is infinite: it never stops and never gives up. I chose purple because it's the colour of my assistance dog's official jacket and also the recognised colour of disability equality campaigning, which I've been involved in for over a decade.

In Toto is a really special collection to me. I've poured my heart and soul into solving a problem faced by my family, friends, customers and myself. And I've tried hard to design a varied range of pieces so that there's something for everyone's tastes. I hope you love it too.

To vote for Carol's Collection 'In Toto' in the BNG 2023 Final, click on the link below:

Vote Now

Until next time jewellery makers,

-JM