BREDA HAUGH

18-Karat Gold and Sterling Silver Pendant Necklaces
from Desert Leaves Collection

A historical site shrouded in lore the Rock of Cashel, located in the Irish province of Munster, is an area touted as one of Europe’s “most remarkable collections of medieval architecture”.  Ireland is also home to featured jewelry designer Breda Haugh.

Jewelry is an experience in and of itself.  Don’t you think?  You see lithe gold bangle bracelets or luminous chandelier diamond earrings and something inside you responds.  It is primal.  Whether you love a design or hate it, jewelry gets to you.

Haugh’s albeit understated 18-karat gold and sterling silver jewelry is powerful in its own right.  Like her colleagues Elena Brennan, John Christopher Condron, and Sabine Lenz, Haugh’s handmade jewelry designs take a contemporary approach to the lyrical romanticism and majesty of ancient Irish symbols and architecture.

A graduate of both Dublin’s National College of Art and Design, and London’s Sir John Cass School of Science and Technology, Haugh cultivates gold pendants, men’s cufflinks and silver rings providing either rich, surface textures or fluid, graceful curvatures to her designs.

Sterling Silver Contemporary Rings

Her Silver Lace Leaf, Gold Dance and Sands of Time collections highlight coarse, scratched metalwork while the Desert Leaves Collection features beautiful, smooth-as-silk cup-like pendants dangling from silver or gold snake chains.  The alternate detailing gives each collection its own unique voice and personality however subtle.


“I periodically work as a designer for larger jewelry companies.  For my own collections, I like to explore my creativity with conceptual jewelry pieces.  Many things inform my work. 

When I was a child my parents used to take me to the National Museum of Ireland, and I was fascinated by the gold pieces.  I was also captivated by the history of the Vikings as they were gifted silversmiths,” she says.

Sterling Silver Harvest Knot
Pendant Necklace

“My Celtic studies are also a big influence and I saw what is known as a Harvest Love Knot in the museum. 

It is an ancient Celtic symbol of love that was made of woven straw and boys and girls would exchange them during the Harvest Festival, Lunasa.  So I made the Harvest Knot a part of my collection.”