Jacqueline Rabun: the jewellery designer on leaving home aged 17 to chart her own course through life, work and love
It was 1989 when a 17-year-old Jacqueline Rabun left home in California to seek her fortune in London. It didn’t take long: the following year, she’d opened a jewellery studio (having taught herself how to make) and had debuted her first collection of sculptural pieces. Given this shoot-for-the-stars attitude, steely determination and curiosity for the world around her, it’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that in the decades since Jacqueline has gone on to forge a highly respected name for herself and her extraordinary designs, their elegant forms shaped by her interests in architecture, the human form, geometry and nature – as Matt Gibberd learned when he interviewed her for this week’s episode of Homing In.
“Jacqueline is a jewellery designer whose work I’ve admired for many years, probably because it’s so architectural. I hadn’t realised that she’s entirely self-taught, which makes the precision of her pieces even more amazing.
“As you probably know by now, we try to record these podcasts in the guest’s home whenever possible. And this one is particularly exciting on that front, because Jacqueline lives in a 1960s house perched on a hillside in Los Angeles.
“On a characteristically steamy LA afternoon, we sat in her kitchen with the doors flung open, enjoying the hazy views over Silver Lake reservoir. As is the custom on this podcast, I asked Jacqueline to talk about a home from her past, her current place and a home of the future. She told me what it was like to grow up in a big family and how the soul music that boomed around the house was somehow a form of defiance against the racial tension that African-Americans were feeling at that time. We also talked about how the pandemic inspired her homing instinct, why she’s enjoying living with less and her love of mid-century modern houses.”
Head to the Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s London space, where ‘Jacqueline Rabun: A Retrospective’, is showing until 18 November. And be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your chosen platform so you never miss an episode. If you could rate and review us too, we’d be very grateful.
Further reading
Check out Jacqueline Rabun’s latest work
Find out more about her dream home, the Loring House
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