Foreword
by David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon
When Mary Ann Wingfield asked me to write the foreword to this highly researched book she did so knowing of my passion for design but also for the support and encouragement that my parents had given the creative jewellery designers and makers in the 1960s and 1970s. She wanted to press home the point that good jewellery design does not have to be expensive or use materials of great value to make a statement, but it does have to be unusual and different in its definition. I inherited my love of design from my father, the 1st Earl of Snowdon, who was always fascinated by pushing the boundaries of an object to see where the design potential might end up.
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It was he who encouraged my mother, Princess Margaret, to support the creative talent of the independent jewellery designers who were testing the boundaries of new possibilities in jewellery making and design in the early 1960s. It was he who opened the new jewellery shop in Jermyn Street
18ct yellow gold open work ring of abstract design set with single-cut diamonds, signed GRIMA, 1968
for Andrew Grima in 1966, and it was he who organised the visit of the Princess and her mother, HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to John Donald’s mews studio in Bayswater in the 1960s. Provenance, in the case of jewellery, is particularly important. Each piece has a story to tell and to many people this ranks high in priority when it comes to adding to their collections. In my role as Honorary Chairman of Christie’s EMERI, I am fortunate to work with collectors from all over Europe and the Middle East and to help them in their endeavour to acquire or sell the finest works of art, covering over 80 categories including jewellery. When we came to auction the jewellery collection of my mother in 2006, each piece of jewellery was sold with the correct documentation to establish its provenance. I hope that this book will go some way to expanding the interest in this unique era of British jewellery, when the boundaries of design and craftsmanship were pushed to their limits.
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