Tipperary-based jewellery designer Gillian Gubbins sits down with Tipperary-based jewellery designer Gillian Gubbins sits down with Tipperary Live to discuss her sustainable jewellery company, GG Designs. “I started creating jewellery only a few years ago, I’ve always been interested in art,” says Gillian. “When I left school I ended up doing a PLC in art and then studied in the Crawford Art College in Cork. When I left college in my early 20's, I turned my back completely on my creative life and travelled and worked in various different jobs for many years. "I then spent about ten years working in jewellery retail and when my first child started primary school I decided to return to college. I then went on to study jewellery design and metalsmithing a few years later,” she explains. READ NEXT: New book explores Young Ireland insurrection in Carrick-on-Suir area led by John O'Mahony “Sitting down and learning how to draw designs from templates was amazing,” says Gillian who credits the jewellery making course as having helped ignite her passion for creating her own jewellery brand. Speaking about how she developed her business, Gillian explains that it really began during the covid-19 epidemic in 2020. “GG designs looked very different before covid. I started making personalised frames, things like baby names and family trees, weddings and milestone birthdays, in the years before covid. During covid all the parties stopped, there was suddenly no occasions that people were celebrating with physical gifts and it slowed right down. READ NEXT: Tipperary county council to review parking charges and permits in 2026 consultation “I was at home going mad like we all were and asked myself what else can I do? I looked back at the skills I already had and the materials that were already there for me and I started making my jewellery,” says Gillian. SUSTAINABILITY Gillian began her business by experimenting with mussel shells, and slowly started creating more sustainable pieces of jewellery for
Meet the Tipperary jeweller turning Irish mussel shells into gorgeous statement drop earrings
