Amy Huberman Talks Luna For Newbridge & Gets Really Honest About Her Career

When you think of Newbridge, what springs to mind? Silver, we bet, and then maybe the big statement pieces of the eShe collection, fronted by Roz Purcell from a couple of years ago. Prepare to have your preconceptions challenged (we did), because Amy Huberman is back in a design role, collaborating on a new collection, Luna, with the Kildare-based company.

Think Chupi-meets-Alex and Ani and you’ve got the sensibility (and the pricepoint) of what’s on offer. The pieces are gold-plated, and they’re delicate and fine, representing two points of departure for a brand that so far, hasn’t really been in the jewellery space with Millennials. So, clever stuff from both Hubes and Newbridge.

“It’s vintage-inspired,” Amy says of the 36-piece strong edit, which features delicate chains, charms, astral symbols and coloured stones. It’s all very on-point and affordable – prices go from €20 to just €45. “I’ve a fascination with vintage jewellery. I hunt out jewellery shops in London, I’ll go through jars of charms. It’s about superstition and sentiment, I think. For people, charms can be a talisman of something important to them,” she says.

While her mum wasn’t a charm-bracelet wearer, her granny was. “I love the legacy and importance of something having symbolism,” she explains. Her elephant charm evokes strength, the unicorn’s about magic and fun. Her favourite? “The envelope; there’s something about handwritten letters,” she muses. Amy is nothing if not sunny of personality, so this comes as no surprise: “All the charms are about encouragement and positivity,” she says.

You always suspect when a star collaborates with a brand, that they didn’t really have too much work to do. Amy’s enthusiasm and obvious input into the meaning behind each piece gives the lie to that. And as for the creative process? “It was a meeting of minds, and trial and error,” she recalls, saying that while she can draw – “a little, but I couldn’t get my ideas out the way they can” – working with the design team was amazing. “Seeing it formalised was really special,” she says. The name, Luna, came from the fact that key pieces in the range are suns, moons and stars.

For someone looking in, Amy Huberman seems to lead a charmed life, married to BOD, multiple strings to her bow, two gorgeous kids. “You should be honest with the process,” she says, admitting, “I’ve had a lot of rejection with stuff. You don’t know when it’s going to be quiet, so you throw yourself into it when it’s not. Acting is busy now,” she says, “but it was quiet for a while while the babies [her children Sadie and Billy] were small.”

“It’s not a job you have any control over,” she says. “It’s not like, ‘oh I’ll take six months and then go back.’ You’re purposely taking yourself out of the game – and it was the first time I’d done that since I started,” she explains. Working as an actress, Amy says, is a security-free zone. “You’re constantly aware, even booking holidays, ‘ohhh, better not’. And taking time off was important to do, for me.”

Then comes the issue of being ready to get back to work, and there being no roles. “I guess in a way there’s a certain time you’re ready and you want to do something and you’re frustrated, and that’s a part of the job too. It’s always been a part of the job,” she reasons. “I’ve always had fallow periods and times when I’ve been busier.You can never sit back and go, ‘this is great’. I’ve learned to enjoy my time off more and not worry about whatever will be.”

Currently appearing in RTE’s gas girlo comedy Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope, we’ll also see her on our screens in the New Year in Striking Out, a four-part legal drama. How different was that from her more usual comedic roles? “It’s really serious, and I hadn’t done drama in a long time. I’d done comedy in the last few years, but it was great and it’s a different pressure. I love comedy but the drama took a different type of energy, and I really loved doing it. It was good to put the serious hat on for a while!”

Life is changing fast for Amy. Two small children, rapidly expanding acting horizons, this new line with Newbridge – which, watch this space, looks like it may have have legs beyond the initial 36-piece edit. “Life is getting busier,” she exclaims.

Of her multifaceted career, Amy laughs and says, “everything is a fluke! I didn’t study acting or English literature – writing came out of living in a basement flat in London, and not working. I had months of not working, so it gave me control. I felt, even if nothing happened with the book, it kept me sane.”

She built herself to stellar success two ways. “Nothing is going to come out of not working hard,” she declares. There’s also this: “just say no to the things that don’t work for you,” Amy advises. Oh, and one last key to Hubes’ dynamism? “I’m involved with things I really enjoy, so that’s half the battle.”

The Luna Collection is available now online at newbridgesilverware.com and retailers nationwide.

• Amy Huberman
• Interview
• Ireland's queen
• Jewellery
• Luna
• Newbridge silverware