EXCLUSIVE: Laura Bond x Hayley B Daines Collection

The gem that is Laura Bond Jewellery launched in 2019. Designer, entrepreneur and piercing fan, Laura Bond, realised that there was nothing out there for women like her who loved piercings but wanted those done with beautiful gold jewellery rather than the harder look piercings offered by traditional piercing/tattoo studios. Using her background in luxury jewellery, Laura created a collection of more delicate and thoughtful gold piercing jewellery. The brand has grown because she was onto something. Women, of all ages, want something new, more luxurious, more feminine, when it comes to piercings. The world of piercings is opening up and Laura is at the forefront.

Her jewellery boutique and piercing studio on Edinburgh’s Thistle Street opened in September 2023 and is already a haven for a more inviting piercing experience.

The First Laura Bond Collaboration

Now Laura Bond has just announced the launch of her first collaboration. She’s created a collection of boho look jewellery that comprises earrings and necklaces with influencer and model Hayley B Daines.

In an exclusive with Hood, she shares her thoughts, musings and excitement about this new high summer collection with Hayley: “I’ve known Hayley for a couple of years, she was a Laura Bond customer from really early on. She’s so genuine and friendly.

“As the Laura Bond brand has grown I’ve been really excited at the idea of working with a collaborator to add an extra perspective to our designs. Hayley was honestly the first person that came to mind. We’d been approached by agents of other creators in the past but nothing had felt true to us.

“Hayley’s style is so natural, fresh and wearable and she just embodies everything about the Laura Bond brand. I also love that she’s based in Edinburgh, it felt right to work with someone local to us, we were able to meet and catch up regularly while also juggling being working mums.”

Laura (left) and Hayley (right) worked closely on every piece in the collabroation

Creating Jewellery With Meaning, Together

So Laura and Hayley bonded over jewellery that evokes their own memories and individual pieces hold significant meaning: “During our first meeting about the collection we just talked about how much we loved jewellery and what it means to us. Both of us wear our Nan’s wedding bands and love vintage pieces. Hayley was pregnant at the time and had just found out she was having a girl so she was excited at the prospect of designing jewellery that could be passed down to her daughter.

“I always buy a piece of jewellery whenever I’m travelling, and Hayley shared that her Mum used to buy a pendant from every country she visited. We really bonded over how meaningful jewellery can be, carrying stories from one generation to the next. It was important for both of us to create a collection that women would treasure and treat themselves to for special reasons or milestones in their lives.

The Design & Process

Developing the collection together has been key to the collaboration: “We started mood boarding, sharing the kind of jewellery we loved, talking about influences on our personal style and what we wanted the collection to feel like. Luxury body jewellery is really technical in its design, you need to think about size, comfort and the placements on the ear that it can be used for, so I covered all this with Hayley. She was excited about the idea of designing pieces she could be pierced with. We both went away and started sketching. We knew we wanted it to be a summer collection and be filled with really wearable and stackable pieces.

So what is it that sets this collection apart from other jewellery collections? Laura elaborates: “This is our first ever collection designed specifically for high summer and like all of our collections every piece is made from responsibly sourced solid gold so it’s suitable to be worn 24/7, whether that’s on a beach in Bali or dancing the night away at a festival. The boho trend has made a massive comeback this summer and this collection really channels that free-spirited and eclectic aesthetic – the intricate designs and mix of textures create the ultimate bohemian-inspired look. Working with Hayley to bring her style into this collection has meant fresh eyes and ideas – always amazing to have for any brand. The 46 pieces in the collection are SO wearable, and they’re designed for every day, you don’t need to save them for special occasions.

The Joyful Result

Laura adds that the whole experience of working with Hayley has been a joy: “We’ve had a lot of fun and we’re both really relaxed which meant the whole process felt quite natural and easy. We have toddlers the same age so we bonded a lot over the juggle of managing family and work life. Neither of us have huge amounts of time to spend on getting ready day to day so creating jewellery that can be left on and worn on repeat was a big priority. I’m excited for new people to discover the brand too, Hayley has such an engaged and supportive audience and I can’t wait to show them what Laura Bond is all about!

Five Minutes with Hayley B Daines

Hayley B Daines is an Edinburgh-based model and influencer who balances her life as a busy mum of two with her career. A devoted jewellery lover she worked closely with Laura to create the collection of boho inspired pieces.

Tell us a little about what jewellery means to you - are there pieces in your own jewellery box that have special meaning and was that something you wanted to evoke in this collaboration?
I see jewellery as a generational item, not because of monetary value, but the emotional value attached to them. I learnt from my mum at a young age that quality jewellery stays with you for life. She loved to go through her pendants with me and tell me which country each came from, and the adventures that she’d been on while there.

I now treasure these pieces, and I love to think that in the future I will sit with my own children telling them about the memories attached to my jewellery. I had one of my mum’s rings reset as my engagement ring and I wear my nanas wedding band stacked with my own rings every day. It’s lovely to look at them at any point of the day, and know my mum and nana are with me.

Each piece in the collection is designed to help the wearer hold onto memories and connect with others. Can you elaborate on the story behind this concept and how it influenced the designs that you and Laura have come up with? In the same way some people get tattoos to wear their story, jewellery can do the same. Wear the pendants stacked together or layered on chains. Choose what memories you want to draw from. I hope that if two people wear the same pendant they can connect their stories of the journey the pendant commemorates .

The Hamza Pendant holds special significance for Hayley

How did you and Laura come up with the specific designs, and what were some of your key influences? After Laura asked if I would like to collaborate on a collection (I’ve never said yes to something so fast in my life!). We mapped out what the journey would realistically look like, because I was pregnant, and Laura very kindly gave me lots of time to work on the designs.

I have always been very connected to symbols, so I knew I wanted to draw from this. The starting point was creating my Hamsa pendant which I had designed and made 10 years earlier. I am constantly asked where my Hamsa is from and I have never had an answer until now. My dad had a Hamsa tattoo done on his foot with my mum’s initials so the symbol has a special significance for me.

How long has it taken from the initial idea to the finished collection and what were some of the challenges you faced along the way? Laura, being a mum too, was very caring and understanding with the newborn haze. We gave ourselves a timeline for me to get my primary designs (very rough sketches) completed by June 2023 ahead of Stevie, my daughter, being due that August. I also lost my dad during the process which created more delays and made the collection mean even more to me (the Raye pendant meant a lot during this time). Laura has been nothing but patient and kind during this whole process, and honestly the best cheerleader I could have asked for.

Who did you have in mind when designing this collection, and who will it appeal to? The collection is for everyone, one of the things I love working with Laura is that she operates an ‘everyone is welcome’ policy in the studio. She doesn’t want you to feel you have to have a certain style/age to be a customer. And the collection embodies that, it is for anyone who wants to celebrate a milestone and mark it with a memorable piece they will treasure for life. The pendants especially mark that for me.

What occasions do you envision these piercings and jewellery pieces being perfect for?
Everyday! Celebrate the everyday. Enjoy them, and create the memories and stories you are going to pass on while wearing them. So one day you can say ‘I wore this pendant when....’

What are you most proud of about this whole collaboration? I am most proud that I can stand back and say this collection truly represents me, not an idea of what a collection should commercially be. And I think that is why others will connect with it too. I hope the pieces become a part of their treasured story too