Oliver Monaghan (Monaghan-Mori) is a London-based multi-disciplinary artist working across jewellery, film and television. Monaghan’s metalwork is semi-autobiographical, translating lived experience into humorous, yet elevated, graphic works.

Monaghan’s ongoing debut collection, ‘This Isn’t Romance’, is a twisted introspection into sex, relationships and sexuality. The series seamlessly blends elements of the romantic and the grotesque to create a cohesive, elegant line imbued with symbolism and great personal meaning.

Since debuting their work with Cluster Contemporary Jewellery in December 2024, Monaghan has exhibited at national and international exhibitions, including Artistar Jewels, XV Florence Biennale, and New Designers 2025, where they were awarded a ‘Dinny Loves’ one-to-watch by industry legend Dinny Hall.

“To all the men I’ve loved before, to clean all the dirty laundry they’ve left behind”.

This statement, taken from an expansive collection of poetry written throughout my twenties, and the poetry at large, has acted as the foundation for my first collection of sculptural jewellery works. The source material has provided me with a raw and emotional lens through which to recontextualise a lived experience of love, heartbreak, and the pitfalls of dating in contemporary queer culture into physical artworks. Transforming a melange of emotions into objects of beauty and intrigue, while still paying homage to classical jewellery archetypes, albeit through unexpected forms.

The work itself is achieved through several artistic methods, combining traditional jewellery techniques such as wax carving and hand fabrication, with clay sculptures that are then moulded and cast through the lost wax technique. With every approach being as important to my practice as the last in helping me achieve my desired aesthetic, while allowing me to imbue each piece with an element of my being through the physical act of working with my hands.

Oliver Monaghan (Monaghan-Mori) is a London-based multidisciplinary artist working across jewellery, film, and television. Monaghan’s silver works are semi-autobiographical, translating lived experiences into humorous and visually striking creations.

As the brand name suggests, much of the work is inspired by themes of death—the death of relationships, love, and self. La recherche de la petite mort (the pursuit of the small death) becomes a central motif, representing the quest to reconcile and transcend one’s past. The dual meaning of "Mori" serves as a unifying thread throughout their collections.

Launched in September 2024, Monaghan’s debut collection, This Isn’t Romance, offers a darkly introspective exploration of sex, relationships, and sexuality. The collection seamlessly blends elements of the romantic and the grotesque, resulting in a cohesive and elegant line imbued with rich symbolism and profound personal significance.

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Monaghan’s work weaves together themes of romance, brutality, sexuality, and loss, creating a visual language that is both humorous and sincere, designed to spark conversation through each piece’s subtle theatricality.

Monaghan believes that art is inherently emotional—whether it’s the attachment we feel towards works of art, the sentimentality we attribute to certain objects, or the emotions the artist invests in the act of creation. Through their work, they aspire to evoke new emotions and experiences for those who engage with their art, facilitating a transfer of sentiment from creator to owner. For we are all emotional beings, and it is emotion that binds us, from beginnings to endings.