Nettie Birch is a jeweller who works from her studio in South East London. Nettie specialises in fold-formed jewellery using aluminium, copper and sterling silver. The technique folds sheet metal and compresses and stretches them by hammering. Once opened, beautiful flowing organic shapes are formed. She is also expanding her range of raised metalwork pieces.

Nettie is a self-taught jeweller who, after redundancy in 2008 started her full time business. She discovered fold-forming in 2009 and, after a year perfecting the technique, changed the focus of her work to concentrate solely on the discipline. The joy of fold forming, for Nettie, is watching the metal move and allowing unexpected movements to define new directions. Often the resulting shapes need careful consideration as to how to make into wearable jewellery and engineering new connections is all part of the challenge.