Jewellery that's out of this world

DONNA WALSH/Waikato Times

CREATIVE PASSION: Hamilton woman Annabel Graham, pictured in her garage workshop, is inspired by the Doctor Who television series to make unique "Whovian" jewellery.

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It's one thing to be a massive fan, it's another thing to put a creative spin on it. talks to a Hamilton artist making unique jewellery inspired by her favourite television show.

It would be an understatement to call Hamilton woman Annabel Graham simply a fan of Doctor Who.

She's taken her passion to a new level, designing unique jewellery inspired by the British science-fiction television series.

"I'm a self-professed Whovian and proud of it," says Graham, a trained jewellery maker. "It's my passion, I love it." She makes stylish pendants and brooches which would send any serious fan of Doctor Who into a time warp. Police box-shaped pendants, made of sterling silver and bronze, are reminiscent of the time machine - the Tardis.

Although it is inspired by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) series, Graham is at pains to point out her pieces are artistic interpretations of aspects of the show. "I always have to work within constraints of copyrights of the BBC," says Graham. "There is no copyright on a police box, but the Tardis is copyright." She is currently working on a brooch that draws on art deco design, Celtic armour and the Daleks, Doctor Who's enemies. "The Daleks' body and structure is all about war and their whole body is a shield," says Graham. It is also in the shape of an evil eye. It's a design she has been working on for years but a recent 2am brainwave led to sketches, which have now come to life. Graham grew up watching the series with her older brother. "I watched as a child and loved it. I watched it behind my blanket, peeking at the television through louvred fingers," says Graham. "I don't remember the stories but I loved the characters." There have been many incarnations of the Doctor - 11 different actors have played the title role since the series began in 1963, but Graham's favourite is David Tennant, the tenth Doctor. Signs of her obsession are at her Chedworth home: her computer screen saver is a still from the show; a collectable Doctor Who toy is on the floor of the lounge.

She takes us out to her garage, her "haven", where she fashions pieces from metal. "I use bronze, silver, copper, anything that has the right thickness and malleability," says Graham. "A lot of it is delicate work." Graham studied jewellery making at Wintec in Hamilton, graduating in 1997 with a Bachelor of Media Arts. "I was among the last of the jewellery graduates," says Graham. The jewellery programme is no longer offered at Wintec, although some Hamilton high school continuing education courses teach jewellery making.

After graduating Graham married and went on to have two daughters  Sophie, 7, and Lucy, 6  putting jewellery on the back burner.

After her marriage broke up, Graham decided to get back into jewellery design in 2007. " I wanted to feel the creative buzz that the makers of Doctor Who did, and I wanted to combine my love of jewellery with Doctor Who. I decided to go for it, and I love it." In February 2008 she launched Whovian Jewellery and it's "snowballed" although her friends thought she was "nuts" when they first heard her plans.

The Whovian jewellery is proving a hit with overseas fans, who order pieces from her website. "It's mostly going to the UK," says Graham. "I'm making online sales to Wales, Ireland, England, also Spain, France and the USA, and Australia and New Zealand." Her Facebook page, Wearable Whovian Jewellery, has more than 1700 fans.

Graham is looking for New Zealand stockists and is taking her Whovian Jewellery to the Armageddon Expo in Auckland in October. "I hope it will create an awareness of what I'm doing." The passion for Doctor Who doesn't just end with Graham. Her daughters have become fans of the show. "We watch it together as a family," says Graham. "Occasionally I catch them role-playing [characters] Rose and The Doctor." She says it's a programme pitched at children, but with legions of adult fans around the globe. "There is never any blood and you get a good scare but never anything too scary," she says. "It's escapism. It's hugely influential in popular culture, it's been around for 47 or 48 years and is the longest running sci-fi adventure series on television, and I'm trying to latch on to that." Her "man with two hearts" pendant, a unisex design, was inspired by the show's title character who has two hearts. "It's such a simple idea, and I researched it extensively, but no one else had done it," says Graham.

A favourite "red carpet" piece is a "binary base 2 circlet" necklace, made of glass and sterling silver beads. It's a true "geek piece" says Graham, based on computer binary code which spells out the words "chameleon circuit" (vital to the working of the Tardis).

Graham also makes Whovian pieces to order, but they must be original designs. A recent commission was for a bride and groom planning a beach wedding dressed as Rose and the Doctor.

She says those who wear her Whovian Jewellery will feel like they are part of a secret club. "I want to make jewellery that stands up on its own, pieces you can wear every day, but it's like a secret society where you might be out in public and someone will say, 'oh that's like a Dalek. Is that what it is?' And I will say 'yes, it's Whovian Jewellery!' That's what I'm going for anyway."

Doctor Who essentials

Whovian: A fan of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. The term Whovian "took off in the 1980s" says Graham. Before that fans were called "Wholigans."

The Tardis: The iconic time machine/space ship featured in Doctor Who shaped like a 1950s-style British police box. The name Tardis, which stands for "Time And Relative Dimension in Space", is a registered trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The Daleks: The bad guys in the series, the Daleks, are an extraterrestrial race of mutants and often have a tank or robot-like shell. Their famous catchphrase is "exterminate".

The Doctor: The main character in the Doctor Who television series, he has been played by 11 different actors to date. He is an eccentric human-like alien who travels through time and space in the Tardis on his adventures.

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