IT MIGHT not be packed with sparkling diamonds the size of small boulders but the jewellery of Wendy Ramshaw is every bit as eye catching.

Working with feathers, plastics, ceramics, metals, even paper, you could say she's the jewel in the crown of contemporary makers.

Wendy's exhibition at Blackwell, in Bowness, runs until July 11, and includes more than a 100 pieces of beautiful and wearable and - to be absolutely frank - incredibly inventive work.

Fun and witty, intellectual and serious, Wendy's objects have a life of their own.

For me Wendy's more artist than jewellery maker - extremely adventurous, brilliantly extending the boundaries that define what is jewellery or ornament. As a result, she is one of the most respected and influential forces working in the field. Noted at the highest level with both an OBE (1993) and CBE (2003) for services to the arts, in 1999 she was elected an RDI (Royal Designer for Industry).

Born in Sunderland, she studied illustration and textile design at the Newcastle upon Tyne College of Art and Industrial Design.

Her studies continued at Reading University and the Central School in London. And in 1986 she became a Lady Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.

In the mid 1960s Wendy Ramshaw collaborated with David Watkins to set up two companies -Optik Art Jewellery, which produced Perspex fashion jewellery, and Something Special, producing innovative paper jewellery.

The same decade she created the sets of rings for which she is well known. When not being worn they can be placed upon elegant acrylic or metal stands. On the finger they can be combined into different arrangements.

Wendy's reputation gathered pace in 1970 with her first one-woman exhibition at the Pace Gallery, in London. Her original geometric designs captured the imagination and spirit of an age of experimentation.

So much so, her skills were recognised by a Council of Industrial Design Award in 1972 for innovation'.

During the first 30 years of her career she drew most of her inspiration from the world around her, working with abstract geometric forms as she responded to her city environment.

Throughout the 1990s she worked on a collection called Picasso's Ladies using many different materials to make jewellery inspired by specific portraits of Picasso's wives, friends and mistresses, exploring the seductive power and symbolism of jewellery.

Her most recent work, a group of spectacular metal, space-age Towers, completes one of the most imaginative displays of jewellery you will ever see.

Open daily 10.30am-5pm.

For further details contact Blackwell Arts and Crafts House, in Bowness, on 015394-46139.

l There will be a special opportunity to meet the artist' and hear Wendy Ramshaw discuss her work at Blackwell on Thursday, June 17 (6.30pm for 7pm). Tickets cost £7.50 each (including a glass of wine).