About Joanna Bristow
Joanna Bristow has been designing jewellery and handicrafts for more than 20 years.
After graduating with a degree in graphic design from London in the early 1980s, Joanna began her career as a designer for African Heritage, the Kenyan Art gallery that popularised African arts and crafts in the 1980s. Joanna collaborated with African craftsmen for 3 years while overseeing Alan Donovan’s development department.
During the 1990s Joanna was an independent designer and consultant in the working in Africa, the Middle East and India on projects for the European community and NGOs. Typical of her work during this period was a project for the Gemini Trust, where she helped silversmiths in Ethiopia to develop a range of jewellery that incorporated traditional designs and techniques that would appeal to a Western market.
Throughout this period Joanna also designed jewellery back in the UK including working on a range of designs for Angela Fisher in London which were subsequently retailed through the Liberty store in Regent Street.
Since 1998 she has been designing under her own brand name. Her jewellery continues to be inspired by the African continent and she works closely with local silversmiths and traders who bring her samples and ideas for designs from Morocco and across the Sahara. Joanna Bristow’s jewellery, while drawing on tradition, is made using contemporary high quality silver and gold.
Today Joanna lives in Marrakech with her photographer husband, Alan Keohane.
