A teenager cancer sufferer from Orkney is the inspiration behind a new jewellery range which will help raise cash for a charitable trust on the island.
Jewellery designer Sheila Fleet created her new collection for Emily Findlay, 18, a former staff member who is fighting neuroblastoma, a rare form of cancer.
The two met when the teenager began working in the designer’s Kirkwall Gallery on Saturdays.
Miss Findlay was first diagnosed with cancer when she was 14 but it returned in February after an 18-month period of remission.
The designer will today launch a special collection, Daisies for Emily, which the teenager has modelled and which will help raise money to support cancer patients and their families.
Ms Fleet said: “I asked Emily what sort of flowers she liked and she answered ‘The daisy is my favourite flower’. This was lovely for me and very poignant.
“Years before I too had chosen daisies. I made my wedding dress of lace daisies and I held fresh daisies.
“One of my husband Rick’s most iconic photographs was of daisies taken at dawn below our home and workshop in Orkney.
“Sadly, I lost Rick to pancreatic cancer last year but I used his daisies to help me design Emily’s daisies – it’s a tribute to his life and his memory too.”
Miss Findlay said she was amazing to see the how quickly the design process worked.
She said: “It was amazing seeing how quickly they moved from just being designs on a piece of paper to actual silver pieces of jewellery you can hold in your hand.”
She said the designs were “absolutely stunning” and added: “Sheila really is the best boss you could ever have and I am so blessed to have worked for her”.
Every daisy sold will contribute to the Orkney Charitable Trust to help support Miss Findlay and her family and other families in a similar situation.
The launch takes place at the Kirkwall Gallery.