Ken Raffe, artist and mentor, died in June this year. His 92nd year. Due to tech glitches I didn’t hear the news till this morning, while staying a few days in Castiglione della Pescaia.

I was buying crystals at a market at around the time he would have passed a month earlier, and so he was on my mind then as I chose some agate, quartz and other stones to set in jewellery.

It goes without saying that Ken’s physical presence will be missed immensely, and his generosity and kindness as “maestro” to so many – including myself – fires on through us and is a tank to our creativity.

I am fully honoured to have been one of his students. He is daily never far from my mind. Something I say to myself often (in his voice) is: Did you turn off the gas! Along with, “you hold the lantern while I shave the chicken’s lip”, and so many other sayings, advice, creative tricks and stories that sneak up and make me laugh out loud while I work in my studio.

Last month I found the recordings of his stories when i interviewed him, to the backdrop of cicadas (and they’re serenading me as I write, under the branches of a maritime pine).

Thank you for everything, Ken. Huge love to his partner and fellow artist, Dixie, and to his family.