Vanessa has a few years of teaching tucked under her belt these days. She began teaching soon after graduating from the School of Jewellery (yep where All That Glitters is filmed!) teaching jewellery making in secondary schools across Birmingham for 3 years for the Crafts COuncils Make Your Future programme. Having loved that expereince Vanessa then took up post with the Midlands Arts Centre where she teaches regular classes and also teaches freelance at other venues as well as private tuition from her workshop The Jewellers Peg with her partner and experienced jeweller-silversmith Tom Asquith.

Vanessa's background hasn't been a straight line into craft and jewellery. After finishing college she began working in various roles in schools, and many varied roles in the NHS (nursery nurse, healthcare assistant, ward and clinic clerk and then finally medical secretary) before discovering her calling purely by accident. After visiting the Midlands Arts Centre open day she signed up for a short course in Jewellery Making without realising how this course would change her life forever! "I made the most hideous of copper rings with a huge ugly solder join. I didn't really know what I was doing and I was a little bit unsteady and clueless with the material and tools but I didn't care, I loved it. I remember feeling so so proud of my first make with it's huge silvery solder join, I wore that copper ring every day even though it was turning my finger green!... it was the start a small flicker of a passion that became impossible to tame and control. I knew this was my calling and it wouldn't be ignored!" Vanessa toyed with the idea of going to university to study and after 3 years of going to every openday and chatting to the students Vanessa applied and to her surprise and delight was accepted onto the course to study Jewellery and Silversmithing (HND) at the School of Jewellery BCU. "I honest;y couldnt believe I had been offered an interview and I recall feeling so nervous I couldnt drive to the interview.. i OCUldnt feel my legs! I had preppared for the interview, i tried to imagine what questions I might be asked and what they might wan to see from me so I took along my sketches and my samples not all were successful but I wanted to show that I was willing to give things a go and learn. I recall setting up for the interview and looking around and there was another girl there also settig up and she had loads of huge sketches and models and I felt a bit panicked as everyhting i took along fitted neatly onto less than half of the table!! However the interview itself felt really quite relaxed (although I didnt feel relaxed at all) but it was more like a chat, a discussion and