Aamina Juma, winner of the Winterson Prize 2024

The winner of the Winterson prize in 2024 is Aamina Juma for her final year work 'The Jewellery Collection', a reassessment of the role and value of jewellery, through dramatic manipulations of material and proportion.

Our Creative Director Alice Cicolini met with Aamina to speak about her work.

Alice: Tell us a little bit about yourself...
Aamina: I am 23 years old and was born in Hertfordshire. I have always been interested in many forms of art growing up. My mother is an artist and it has always been a dream of mine (and my Mum’s) to go to art school. I completed my BA in Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martin’s in the summer of 2024 and I am excited to start working in the industry.

Alice: I loved the bold choice you made to create jewellery at scale and in another medium? What drove that decision for you?
Aamina: I wanted to recreate the classic pieces that you might find in your jewellery box - essential items such as your gold hoops and a more sentimental item like a locket with a picture of your parents in it. Exaggerating scale and altering materials allowed me to confront and question how we define value by literally changing the perspective of those who encounter my collection.

Image 1: The Pearl Studs, 100% Wool, Aamina Juma
Image 2: The Pearl Necklace, 100% Wool, Aamina Juma

Alice: What was the inspiration for this collection?
Aamina: I feel there is a discrepancy between the way that people experience jewellery, assigning personal value to pieces because they evoke a memory or they provide some connection to family, and the clinical way in which jewellery is in other contexts reduced to the monetary worth of their constituent materials. 

Alice: What do you find inspiring about pearls? Why did you choose the pearl necklace and studs to include in this collection?
Aamina: I already knew that I was going to be playing a lot with materials and scale, so it was important to retain familiar forms in order for the collection to be grounded in some kind of jewellery vernacular. A pearl necklace and studs are classic timeless pieces that everyone understands, whether from personal experience or cultural references.

Alice: What have you discovered about working with pearls (even in wool!)?
Aamina: Pearls are beautifully imperfect, which was ideal when trying to approximate them using a material that insists on bending and bulging as you construct.

Image 1: The Engagement Ring, 100% Wool, Aamina Juma
Image 2: Aamina Juma

Alice: Which designer or artist do you most admire?
Aamina: Yinka Ilori. In hindsight it’s almost impossible not to draw parallels between my work and his outsize chairs. I also remember going to see an exhibition at Somerset House where Ilori had provided signage and painted archways and hallways to create a space-defining companion to the show. I’ve created a collection that can’t be contained by a display cabinet, I’m sure inspired by Yinka Ilori’s room-encompassing spirit.

Alice: What is it that makes a piece or type of jewellery a design classic in your view?
Aamina: That’s a big question! A lot of things. Both timelessness and era specificity can contribute to that ‘classic’ status. Cultural references can play a role too. Princess Diana’s sapphire engagement ring has been admired and copied many times! And then simplicity, usability and celebration of materials. Look at the simple gold hoop earring and all the cultures it plays a role in.

Alice: What's next for you after CSM?
Aamina: I hope to continue working on jewellery that people interact with a little unexpectedly, and keep playing with familiar forms as exploration. I love creating pieces for public display, so I’ll be focusing there as a next step.