Catherine Wheel Brooch


2023
Anodised aluminium, 3D printed nylon, stainless steel
Photographs by John Moore

I was one of a group of jewellery artists commissioned by Robert Hiller to create a brooch inspired by the legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria.
As a saint, her emblem is a broken spiked wheel — a symbol of her martyrdom and defiance.

Catherine was a Christian and a virgin, martyred in the early fourth century under the rule of Emperor Maxentius. According to tradition, when she refused to renounce her faith — or marry the emperor, declaring instead that she was already the bride of Christ — she was condemned to die on a spiked ‘breaking wheel’. But the story tells that the wheel shattered at her touch, killing thousands. Eventually, she was beheaded — and it’s said she ordered the execution herself.

For my brooch, I took inspiration from the Catherine Wheel firework — a symbol of energy and motion — and incorporated red detailing to represent St. Catherine’s blood and the violence of her story.

All of the commissioned brooches have been gifted to Robert’s friend, jewellery historian Katherine Purcell of Wartski London. They’ll be exhibited as part of From Function to Fantasy: The Brooch at Wartski, from 1st–12th October 2025.

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Cranes Fighting in the Snow

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Pagoda II