Daisies for Emily – jewellery with a heart by Sheila Fleet

In the autumn of 2013, Emily Findlay started to work for jewellery designer Sheila Fleet in her Kirkwall gallery.

Like many teenagers, Emily likes jewellery, meeting people and having fun, but unlike most young girls, she has a rare form of cancer. Neuroblastoma first struck when Emily was 14 years old, but 18 months later she was clear. However, it has now come back and 19-year-old Emily is fighting to beat the illness again.

Sheila decided that she had to do something to help Emily, and set about designing jewellery with her young employee in mind, as she reveals, “I asked Emily what sort of flowers she liked, and she replied that she loved daisies. This was particularly poignant, as my late husband Rick (whom I lost to pancreatic cancer at the end of 2013) had taken a treasured photograph of daisies at dawn below our home in Orkney, and they were also the flowers that I had in my bouquet on our wedding day. I used his picture to help me design Emily’s daisies; it’s a tribute to his life and memory too.”

As spring unfolded, the collection took shape – a pendant, necklet, earrings, ring and bracelet, all in various sizes – adorned the workbenches at Sheila Fleet Jewellery. Now, as summer sun begins to shine on the Northern Isles, the Daisies for Emily collection are ready to be launched. For every sale from the collection, a contribution will be made to the Orkney Charitable Trust to help support Emily and her family.

The collection will be available to order online from Friday 23rd May, with an official launch following at Sheila’s Kirkwall shop on Saturday 31st May. Thereafter, the collection will be available in Sheila Fleet shops (Sheila Fleet Gallery in Stockbridge, Jenners in Edinburgh, Frasers in Glasgow and Jenners in Loch Lomond Shores). All other jewellery shops selling Sheila Fleet pieces should have the collection available from mid-June.

Daisies for Emily necklet, £285, and earrings, £129, available from Sheila Fleet. www.sheilafleet.com