Article: Fingers Just Get In The Way

Fingers just get in the way': Incredible jewellery designed and crafted by woman who was born without digits on her hands

•                Annette Gabbedey, 48, is a goldsmith who creates intricate works of art

•                She uses no special equipment to create rings, earrings and necklaces

•                Frome-based jeweller says family always encouraged her to 'get out there'

•                She trained at Hatton Garden in London before moving to Somerset in 1990

•                Mrs Gabbedey, whose pieces sell for thousands of pounds, says: 'I'm quite normal and not disabled at all.'

By HARRIET ARKELL

A talented jeweller whose creations sell for thousands of pounds has told how she manages to create her intricate ornaments despite having no fingers.

Annette Gabbedey, 48, creates delicate rings, earrings and bracelets, inset with with diamonds, opals and other precious stones in her workshop in Frome, Somerset.

But the expert goldsmith, who was born without fingers, uses no special tools to help her work and says she cannot imagine how people with fingers manage to do it.

+12Shop: The goldsmith runs her own studio and boutique in Frome's picturesque Catherine Hill

Mrs Gabbedey said: 'I'm quite normal and not disabled at all.  But I do appreciated that people are fascinated by me being able to create something.

'Making jewellery is very tactile, and something you do with your hands, and people ask how I manage to create jewellery, let alone the day to day things.

'My answer to that is: "How do you manage with fingers?", because they must get in the way.'

Mrs Gabbedey, who says she was always encouraged by her family to 'get out there and sort it out', studied jewellery-making at school and college before training amongst the jewellery experts of London's Hatton Garden.

She moved to Somerset 24 years ago, and now has a reputation as one of Britain's finest craftsmen and opal specialists.

She said: 'It is just your own perception of how you look at yourself, and for me I was born like it, sod I have never known anything different.

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Mrs Gabbedey tucks a file under her leather wrist strap when she needs to file a piece of jewellery down

The trained goldsmith uses regular tools to create her pieces which sell for thousands of pounds

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Exquisite work: This white-gold ring features a 4.5mm Tanzanite surrounded by brilliant cut diamonds

Covetable jewels: Mrs Gabbedey creates delicate pieces featuring diamonds and emeralds, among others

The jewellers wears a leather wrist strap under which she slides files if she needs them, and also has a vice to hold pieces while she works on them.

She said: 'I just find a different way of doing things.  I have sensitivity all the way through my hands - I can feel everything I am touching and I have got quite a lot of movements in my hands.

'It really is just fingers that I am missing.  I've got the joints and the movements which means I have got the dexterity to be able to hold small items.'

Mrs Gabbedey says she is happy to answer questions from inquisitive children.

The jeweller has earned a reputation as a leading opal specialist - this ring features an opal set in yellow gold

Mrs Gabbedey made herself an opal and diamond necklace worth £25,000 to celebrate 21 years of trading

She said: 'They need to learn at a young age that this is normal, and this world is made up of all different types of people.

'People see my work first, and then they see me and think "Well, she can make this", so it's not really a question.'

The most expensive piece she has ever made was a £25,000, 18 carat yellow and white gold boulder opal and diamond necklace, which she made for herself to celebrate 21 years of trading.

She said: 'Lots of people have challenges of different types and mine, I suppose, is my hands.

'But I don't really see then as a challenge - it is just how they are.