British jeweller with no fingers creates masterpieces

Annette Gabbedey may have been born without fingers, but that hasn't stopped her from becoming one of Britain's most talented jewellers and goldsmiths.

The soft-spoken 48-year-old has been making high-end rings, earrings, necklaces and bracelets for 23 years, and has established herself as one of the finest in her trade, specializing in opals and precious stones.

“I tend to look at people with fingers and think well how can you manage with fingers because they must get in the way,” Gabbedey tells the Western Daily Press. “It is just your own perception of how you look at yourself and for me I was born like it and I have never known anything different.”

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Most impressively, Gabbedey doesn’t use special tools to create her masterpieces, but instead adapts traditional crafting items to suit her needs.

For example, she uses a leather strap around her wrist to hold tools while she creates her stunning jewelery pieces, and has adapted a bench vice traditionally used by engineers in order to hold jewelry while she's working on it.

"I just find a different way of doing things really," says Gabbedey, who has full sensation in both her hands.

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The experienced jeweller doesn't consider herself to be disabled and admits she gets a little annoyed at parents who are embarrassed when their kids ask innocent questions about her hands.

"They need to learn at a young age that this is normal and this world is made up of all different types of people," she explains.

Gabbedey trained at London's Hatton Garden jewellers and has her own workshop and store in Frome, Somerset.

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She is one of many people without fingers, hands or arms to find creative ways of performing daily tasks.

A 10-year-old New Jersey boy with no arms recently learned to play the trumpet using his feet.