My name is Ross Heywood and I live near Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand with my partner Toyoko on a rural property where we have 4 chickens, 1 Guinea Fowl named Twink ( Twink is very very special to me as I hatched him from an egg in the hot water cupboard so I am effectively the mother ) and a part time hedgehog by the name of Harold.

By day I make jewelry and sell it locally at the Queenstown market. I work with Sterling Silver, 18ct gold, Bronze or anything that floats my boat. My designs have been described as being very Scandinavian. Clean and simple. I also do abstract oil paintings very much inspired by Kandinsky.

To all you lovers of fashion. My jewelry is owned by Glenn Marziali. He is a New York based make up artist. His clients include Heidi Klum, Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson, Paloma Faith and Tyra Banks.

You will probably guess that I love animals very much so here is a wee story about a special animal in my life and I now have a You Tube channel for you to view my special animal friends.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMffh6keXF8KNOuwMGgnBZQ

Harold the hedgehog was part of my life for about 3 months. I found him as a baby and released him into the wild at 6 weeks old. Two weeks later he returned. I would meet him at night when he came out of the forest, and he would follow me home for a treat of cat food and a sleep on my knee. At summer’s end he disappeared into hibernation for winter. I did not think I would see him again but six months to the day he returned and still knew me. Made my day.

Love him.