Laser-cut geometric chic from Lianna Sheppard

Graphic shapes and layered colours make up fashion and jewellery designer Lianna Sheppard’s experimental jewellery collection. Created out of laser-cut, etched acrylic and bathed in a vibrant pallet of yellow, pink, black, purple, blue and red, the pieces take inspiration from optical illusions where flat objects appear 3D and much like Escher’s impossible drawings.

Creating the collection Ocular after her degree collection Modu gram Sheppard’s creative tastes developed and began to veer into the more experimental, as she explored the idea of body adornments post-graduation. The discovery of laser cutting in Lianna’s practice opened an opportunity: to be able to explore a world of geometric shapes and structures, as well as toy with the idea of optical illusions.

The Lianna Sheppard geometric jewellery includes necklaces, rings, brooches, earrings and cufflinks with some rare pieces made from silver, mirrored acrylic. Stand-out pieces include the merge brooch, whose laser-cut and etched designs make it seem like two boxes merging together in a Tron-like way; the cuboid ring, which uses layers to create the shapes; and the really unusual and almost sci-fi inspired shard earrings, which also come in mirrored acrylic. 

With stockists in the UK, worldwide and online of course, selling her beautifully precise work, which definitely seems to be taking off. She has also been involved in several London pop-up shops, such as Supermarket Sarah in Selfridges. You can also catch her at markets around London, including the trend-driven Brick Lane market and at Bestival – so keep an eye out!

Excitingly, many new ideas are already in the pipeline: it’s only a matter of time before we get to see more of those intriguing and beautiful shapes on all manners of garments and items. If you want to see more of the optically focused shapes right now, the Lianna Sheppard website displays them all in a nice and complimentary format – check it out here. 

Rebecca Saunders