Cathy Hutton - Vintage Caterina

I make one-off pieces of jewellery from vintage buttons. I learnt to sew at a very young age and have always liked to explore the creative possibilities of beads, braids and buttons. My discovery in 2011 of a nonna’s button tin at the antiquarian market in the little Italian town of Gonzaga opened a whole world of creativity. The beautiful, old and unusual treasures hidden away in this battered old tin had to be brought out of oblivion and I decided that the best way to do this was to wear them. I began experimenting with ways to mount buttons as brooches and to knot them on cords as necklaces, people admired my pieces when I wore them so Vintage Caterina came into being.

I like to design pieces that represent a particular fashion style such as the 1940’s and 50’s. Whenever possible I use buttons that date from that period, but it is fascinating to see the many ways that even modern buttons can be assembled to reflect the ‘look’ of a particular period, depending on their colour, shape and texture.

Many of my buttons come from the antiquarian markets of northern Italy and from house visits to the button-collecting friends that I have made there over many years of travel. One of my recent projects, inspired by portraits of Renaissance women, was to make the necklaces that they might have worn with their sumptuous dresses.

When I am not making my jewellery pieces I like to walk around Goulburn looking at the beautiful heritage architecture which was one of the reasons for my move from Melbourne - I am currently researching the history of my own 1890’s Federation house.