Diana Carmichael was born in Singapore, but grew up in Zimbabwe where she studied jewellery design and manufacturing. In 1981, Diana moved to Johannesburg, South Africa where she continued to design jewellery. Still unable to find her true passion, Diana then pursued a career in graphic design and worked as a freelance artist for a number of years.
In 1995 Diana was inspired to take her talent and distinctive sense of design in a completely new direction and founded Diana Carmichael Artworks CC, a company that manufactures and distributes pewter tableware and accessories. As part of her original vision, demand for Diana's product has created stable employment for 30 local South Africans who in turn support their own families and very often the poorest of the community members.
Diana has been greatly influenced by the forms and textures of this extraordinary continent, where she captures the elusive "spirit" of Africa in her designs. This comes from "having lived in Africa all my life and experiencing daily the natural beauty of the African sub-continent and its people." She sees a "richness about life in Africa" which she reveals in her designs.
While each piece is hand-molded in a casting process that fuses them with the stainless steel utensils, the real work occurs in the finishing of the product. The five stages of finishing are all done by hand using traditional methods, and require a high degree of skill and the finest attention to detail.
Despite humble beginnings, the production of a single designer teaspoon has grown into a comprehensive tableware and home ware range that meets the needs of a sophisticated, global clientele. Diana's inspiration, determination and technical expertise have allowed her to establish one of the most sophisticated, exclusive pewter designer brand in South Africa.
After taking a sabbatical, Diana is now focusing and developing a new jewellery collection. She is spending many hours deconstructing her original tableware designs and reconstructing them into exciting and distinctive jewellery pieces. Drawing her inspiration from extensive travels in Africa, she is also now introducing completely new designs.
The collections she designed for Diana Carmichael Artworks CC are:
