I’m signing off 2023 with a love letter to one of my favourite indie brands, Tatty Devine. After co-designing a necklace with them this year, this slice of joy is THE best thing to remember out of a rather tumultuous twelve months…
Dear Tatty Devine,
Before I get onto how the photo above, which was taken this summer, came about, I need to go back in time. It may have been almost two decades ago, but I can still remember the excitement and wonder I felt the first time I visited you at your original home.
236 Brick Lane, E2 7EB, is where one of my life's most enduring love affairs began.
Despite being pocket-sized premises, stepping through the narrow doorway of your original (and much missed) Shoreditch shop was to be transported into an acrylic take on the Tardis; it was magical! The front windows, mirrored walls and glass display cabinets were always adorned with gorgeous jewellery (including supersized versions suspended from the ceiling) gleaming and glistening in the light.
It was hard not to behave like a magpie when I was there, as that shop was the ultimate shiny pick-n-mix experience. Incredible designs made from a multitude of materials were readily available. Works of art were fashioned from iridescent Perspex, wood, leather, fabric, silver, and more extravagant pieces made with semi-precious stones and hand-studded with Swarovski crystals were on offer to tempt me.
Every visit to you was joyful, not just because of the gorgeous jewellery. Popping into the shop over the years was always an opportunity to catch up with the wonderful Team Tatty - it’s how I made firm friendships and lovely connections that still exist to this day and that I treasure so much.
Tucked away in the back of the shop was the small studio where the wild and beautiful imaginations of co-founders Rosie Wolfenden MBE and Harriet Vine MBE would come to life. That space was where most of the acrylic creations I wear were born. I still cherish tasting that creativity with Harriet in 2014, participating in the Deluxe Lobster Necklace workshop at 236.
Little did I know that one day, doing something like that with Harriet would become an even bigger reality.
When I wasn’t in your emporium of acrylic dreams buying jewellery, I was adding coveted vintage designs to my collection via eBay or topping it up in one of my favourite ways - at the annual Tatty Devine sample sale.
Although I never went to the extreme of camping overnight (living in East London when the venues for the sale were super-local was a blessing), I would happily arrive a couple of hours before opening time, join the queue and catch up with fellow Tatty Devine lovers… and then spend an excessive amount of time inside the building catching up with Team Tatty while rummaging through table tops positively groaning with rare and one-off pieces!
The thrill of finding things from my ‘ultimate wishlists’ - the earlier and often more obscure designs and limited edition pieces and then having them in hand was unmatched.
By 2016, my once-containable collection had morphed into a beautiful beast that could no longer be trapped on the top shelf of my wardrobe. Short of converting my spare bedroom into a museum of all things Tatty (I still dream of that happening, to be honest), I needed to do something to keep a visual and mental log of all the pieces I owned and the stories attached to each.
I started photographing and noting the details of every piece (name, release date, collection, etc), and from this, the Tattylogue*, an online catalogue of my collection, was born!
Just as storytelling is at the core of Harriet and Rosie’s creations, every piece of Tatty Devine in my collection also has a story behind it.
From having a customised LadyVélo Original Name Necklace made in 2011 to celebrate the first-anniversary of Vélo-City-Girl to being accessorised by you for my official portraits for The Guardian/Observer Magazine feature on the publication of my book, your ability to feature in significant events in my life (and even be patiently waiting in the wings for special events in the future) is something that will always put the biggest smile on my face.
Dearest Tatty, when you opened up your archives in 2019 for the Misshapes exhibition—surely the ultimate Tatty Devine storytelling experience—the Tattylogue’ist in me could have burst with excitement!
It was such a delight to be invited to the exhibition launch party. The chance to be immersed in twenty years’ worth of your designs, sketchbooks, photos, and flyers was an opportunity I was not going to miss!
Seeing fabulous faces from TD past and present, catching up with friends (while, of course, checking out which stunning pieces people dug out of their collections to wear for the party) and celebrating two decades of your jewellery was an absolute blast.
You've been a constant presence in my life for what feels like forever, and in that time, you told your story against the background of social and cultural changes in London and the UK. So, when you asked me to give a talk as part of the exhibition about my personal history with Tatty Devine and what your jewellery means to me, I was honoured.
“Surely nothing could beat this”, I thought to myself in 2019. Four years later, you knocked that moment off my top Tatty Devine spot in a way I could only have dreamed about.
Which brings me to that photo at the start of this letter.
In June, an email from Rosie and Charlotte came into my mailbox. It’s always wonderful to hear from them, but I had to read Rosie’s words several times to make sure that I wasn’t delusional.
It was about ARCHIVE: Launched in April, ARCHIVE saw ‘friends, fellow artists and Tatty icons’ reinterpreting key pieces from over two decades of Tatty Devine.
I had been asked to choose a piece from my own archive—the Tattylogue—and reimagine it for 2023!
After picking my jaw up from the floor and emailing Rosie and Charlotte the most enthusiastic ‘YES!’ they may have ever received, I went through the Tattylogue… but I knew exactly which statement piece it had to be.
After exchanging many exciting emails with Rosie, Charlotte and Harriet, a date was set for me to come to the studio to work on the ideas I had for my reimagined Peacock.
The days of Brick Lane are now gone, but entering the brand new and much bigger studio and headquarters of TD evoked similar emotions that I felt for 236. A beautiful old chalk factory—a big, airy light space overlooking Regent’s Canal—is now the magical jewellery box where new collections are dreamt up.
There is certainly more room for creative imaginations to roam free, and I’m still pinching myself that this side of my creative brain was able to wander freely there, too!
One wonderful day in July, I went through acrylic swatches, CAD designs, and Swarovski Crystals, mixing, matching and dreaming up my Peacock with Harriet.
And from the minds of myself and Harriet, the White Peacock Statement Necklace was born!
So, my dearest Tatty Devine,
To me, you mean power, confidence and feeling free.
The freedom I feel when I wear the bigger, bolder pieces of your jewellery - especially when I feel like hiding away from the world, is unmatched. You turn my fears on their heads, allow me to come out of my shell and have conviction in myself.
Peacocks are incredible. They’re graceful and have a divinity that comes with pure majesticness. I want to have that grace and that powerfulness as I navigate my way through life. It simply had to be that necklace from my archive that I wanted to put my spin on, and I’m SO glad I was granted the wish to do it!
Every single piece of your art that I own and wear has a story to tell, and this is one of the things I cherish and adore about you so much.
There will always be a bit of Tatty Devine in my future endeavours. So, thank you for inviting me to dig into the archives and leave a little sprinkle of Jools that will live on.
Much love, as always,
Jx
*I’m giving the Tattylogue a much-needed revamp in 2024. Please give it a follow on Instagram!
Buy my book - Back in the Frame: Cycling, belonging and finding joy on a bike.
Buy the White Peacock Statement Necklace on Tatty Devine.
Loved this slice of Tatty history Jools and so glad you got to be part of that journey. X