Two Turtle Doves A Memoir of Making Things

Author(s): Alex Monroe

Biography & Memoir

Two Turtle Doves is the story of a life spent making things. Growing up in 1970s Suffolk in a crumbling giant of a house with wild, tangled gardens, Alex Monroe was left to wreak havoc by invention. Without visible parental influence, but with sisters to love him and brothers to fight for him, he made nature into his world. Creation became a compulsion, whether it was go-carts and guns, cross-bows and booby-traps, boats, bikes or scooters. And then, it was jewellery. From full-out warfare waged against the local schoolboys to the freedom found in daredevil Raleigh bike antics to the delicacies of dress-making and the most intricate designs for jewellery, Two Turtle Doves traces the intimate journey of how an idea is transformed from a fleeting thought into an exquisite piece of jewellery. It is about where we find our creativity, how we remember and why we make the things we do.


Product Information

Revealing how a small curious boy in Suffolk turned into an internationally famous jewellery designer Two Turtle Doves is the story of a life spent making things

This is a tremendous book. A generous story of making, looking, travelling and growing up... Edmund de Waal This month we're excited about ... Jeweller Alex Monroe's memoir. 'I loved his accounts of childhood escapades, his honesty about feeling shy at big events and his admission that, for his, real satisfaction comes not from glitzy parties but from seeing a stranger on a train wearing one of his creation.' Recommended Psychologies A hidden gem ... A good deal more than a memoir. It is difficult to think of a text that better describes the way in which lived experience is translated by high craftsmanship into art ... I imagine its being rediscovered with delight in some dusty book case a century hence and hailed as a classic Spectator A wonderful book, a hymn to the pleasurable process of making things The Times Just as delicate and golden as his famous pieces - a heartfelt celebration of creativity, craftsmanship and love Harper's Bazaar

Alex Monroe grew up in rural Suffolk and showed a keen interest in art and design from an early age. Alex trained at Sir John Cass Faculty of Art in Whitechapel. He set up his business in South London in 1986 and Alex Monroe Jewellery is now an iconic and internationally successful brand. @agmonroe www.alexmonroe.com

General Fields

  • : 9781408841204
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • : 0.203
  • : February 2015
  • : 19.80 cmmm X 12.90 cmmm X 1.90 cmmm
  • : United Kingdom
  • : March 2015
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Alex Monroe
  • : Paperback
  • : en
  • : 240