A few things about me

Hello my name's Jesse Ball, I was born and brought up in a Tibetan Buddhist community in the wilderness of Scotland. I spent the first year of my life living in a cabin by the river Esk at Kagyu Samye Ling Tibetan centre.

I'm very fortunate to have had the guidance and friendship of my guru, Dr. Akong Tulku Rinpoche who supported and encouraged me to persue my jewellery career ~ it's because of him I made it this far.

Since the first time I heard of the Camino de Santiago I knew I wanted to make the pilgrimage. In 2023 my family and I were very fortunate that things aligned in such a way that made this dream become a reality. We cycled for 400 miles over 3 weeks to reach Santiago de Compostela and the shrine of St. James The Great.

I currently work between places, sometimes I'm based in north east Scotland, near Forres in Moray and other times I work from my childhood home of Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway.

My great grandfather was also a jeweller and had his workshop in Hatton Garden, London. I'm very lucky to have some of his favourite tools and a ring he made for my grandmother.

Jewellery processes

I hand sculpt each talisman in wax, then it is cast into precious metals through the lost wax method. The talisman collections I make are created in a playful and intuitive way, the wax really lends itself to an organic, hand made aesthetic. Current inspiration and the things that really get me excited are ancient artifacts, treasures lost and found, ancient textile fragments and metal detecting finds as well as the golden treasures of Etruscan, Greek and Roman times.