London-based jeweller and artist Jo Boateng's earliest and fondest memories are of 1970s Kumasi, Ghana, where she lived with her grandparents while her parents set up home in the UK, where her mathematician father had been invited to teach.
It was a carefree time that has informed her creative life in adulthood – playing with her carved wooden Akuaba doll, creating terracotta clay animal models, enjoying her grandmother’s ancient glass beads and kente cloths and the gold jewellery made by her grandpa.
In 2022 she began making jewellery and silkscreen prints. She was quickly awarded a De Beers Group Starter Level Jewellery Scholarship, won Best in Show at the Chroic Jewellery Competition and her prints were exhibited in the Morley Gallery MADE 2023 Exhibition. She was selected to take part in The Goldsmiths’ Centre’s Shine 2023 exhibition and in 2024 won a Goldsmiths' Craft and Design Council(GCDC) Award. She received a silver award for her ‘Fitaa’ collection, which comprises a statement necklace, bracelet, ring and drop earrings made of glass and sterling silver in Jo's distinctive signature style and weaving technique. The collection topped the Ready to Wear Jewellery category, picking up theThe National Association of Jewellers(NAJ) andBritish Allied Trades Federation(BATF) Best in Category Sponsors Award. The ready to wear category encourages entrants to design a piece of demi-fine jewellery that demonstrates design prowess while being commercially viable.
She lives and works in South London, where she makes her pieces by hand using traditional jewellery techniques.
