Sea Moss Collection: A collaboration with Stromness Museum

For many years, Sheila had been keen to develop jewellery inspired by the shape and form of seaweed, so when Janette Park, curator of Stromness Museum, asked about a collaboration to help raise funds for the museum, an idea took hold.

Along with fellow local creatives Kirsteen Stewart and Britt Harcus, Sheila was invited to Stromness Museum in the spring of 2023 to discuss an exciting new project called ‘The Steps to Sustainability’.

“We wanted to work with local creative practitioners to help develop the museum’s retail offering and make the museum more sustainable. The inspiration for these new, bespoke products was our natural history collections”, said Janette.

During a memorable visit to the museum, Sheila was fascinated by a collection of seaweed housed within a folder titled ‘Orkney Sea-weeds presented by Gunner at Hoxa Battery’. Sheila instantly felt a connection to this collection having grown up on a farm in Hoxa. It’s intriguing to think about this young man, far from home, collecting and pressing seaweed for recreation from the coastline around Sheila’s birthplace in Orkney.

Sheila was inspired by the shape and flow of a Sea Moss sample within this folder that has lovely heart-shaped fronds. She discussed an idea for seaweed-inspired jewellery with Olivia Yorston, her designer and master pattern maker, and with the rest of her design team.

Olivia began work to bring Sheila's idea to life from an initial sketch into a physical silver form. Every design at Sheila Fleet Jewellery is initially crafted by hand to create a master pattern. The lost wax process is used to replicate these designs, with every piece hand-finished in Sheila's Orkney workshop by her talented team of jewellers and enamellers. Watch our jewellery being made here!

As well as creating the jewellery collection to help raise funds for Stromness Museum, Sheila also helped curate an exhibition to showcase the museum's seaweed specimens gathered between 1839 and 1962. This exhibition highlights how the seaweed specimens have inspired local artisans to create artworks and commercial products. 

Don’t miss it! The exhibition is open until Saturday 10 May 2025. The Museum is open Monday to Saturday between 11am and 3.30pm. Entry is £7.50 for adults, £5 for students, with free entry for children under 16.