Sonia Cheadle

This website was designed by myself and the team at William Hall Work, and I executed its production. Sonia is a highly skilled jeweller working with rarefied materials in unusual ways. We wanted to create a website that reflected the phenomenal craft of her work, and brought her gorgeous creations to life, while conveying their unique character with a compelling and refined design. During research, we realised how crucial lighting was to the perception of the works, and started thinking about ways to integrate some sort of interactive lighting into the site, without compromising the luxury of the pieces themselves. I realised that it was possible to create a radial gradient that followed the user’s mouse, and once the jewellery cutouts were placed over this, a subtle illusion of light moving across its surface emerged. We wanted the navigation to feel heightened and opulent, and our counterintuitive method of attaining this was through the reduction of all excess. For this reason, there is no traditional menu, and all links are incorporated into body text. Neuzeit was used for all type for its refined character. Ease of use wasn’t sacrificed for aesthetics, however; on many of the pages, users can click through a carousel of various works, though this is suggested with indistinct hairline arrows that emerge when the mouse moves to certain areas of the page. These change to navigational numbers when clicked to improve the accessibility of the site, and reduce repetition for viewers. The website is greyscale, to heighten the delicate colours of the works, and there are gradations in background and text shades between pages to provide novelty and emphasise certain works.

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