DESIGNERS, CRAFTSMEN, SILVER MANUFACTURERS AND ENGRAVERS
REECE, Stanley An engraver. RICH, Fred (now trading as Fred Rich Enamel Design – FRED) Born in 1954, he undertook his art foundation course at the Central School of Art and Design from 1977-8 and went on to study Jewellery Design there from 1978-81. With his passion for colour, it is not surprising that he made enamelling a speciality. He established his workshop in London together with two fellow jewellery graduates and started making jewellery and some silver. As he excels as an enameller, there was a strong demand for his skills from jewellers and silversmiths. Nevertheless he did have a stand at Goldsmiths’ Fair and his work was in a couple of exhibitions at Goldsmiths’ Hall in the early 1990s, but it was predominantly jewellery. In 1993, Garrard’s commissioned him to make a larger piece for an exhibition to celebrate its 150th anniversary as Crown Jewellers. The Managing Director of Garrard’s was so impressed with Rich’s work that a solo exhibition was secretly arranged for 1995 where a dozen large pieces were displayed. It was a sell-out and Rich’s order book became full. See pp.406-15. ROWE, Michael Born in 1948, his passion for metalwork developed when he attended High Wycombe Technical High School where a fellow pupil and friend was Terry Pratchett. He undertook his arts foundation course at High Wycombe College of Art and Technology from 1965-6 and continued studying silversmithing design there from 1966-9. He studied at the Royal College of Art from 1969-72. Rowe was one of a newly emerging generation of craftsmen who were looking for new directions and questioning the nature and role of traditional craft practice. Considering the traditional market for silver as ‘ostentatious and out of touch with the exciting developments going on in other areas of the visual arts’, he proposed an alternative working method. The applied arts writer and curator Ralph Tuner sums it up, ‘The silversmith Michael Rowe, almost single-handedly reinvented his craft in the 1970s.’ After graduating Rowe established a studio in south London and his work began to emerge on the gallery scene and in exhibitions. He soon found he was in demand as a lecturer. In 1976 he joined the team at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts on a part-time basis. In 1979 he embarked on research into colouring, patination and bronzing of metals with Richard Hughes, his teaching colleague at Camberwell. This resulted in the publication in 1982 of what is still a standard work. Although he had taught at the RCA as a visiting lecturer since 1978, in 1983 he was invited to become Senior Tutor in the Department of Silversmithing and Jewellery, a post he still held in 2012. See pp.416-29. SCHILDER, A The Pearson Silver Collection has a pair of dishes in the Scandinavian style on three ‘sputnik’ feet bearing the assay office mark for London and the date letter for 1961. SEATON, Colin Born in 1947, he was apprenticed to Algernon Asprey from 1963-8. He worked for Stuart Devlin from 1969-76 before setting up own workshop in East London. SHINER, Cyril James Born in Birmingham during 1908. He attended Moseley Road Junior Art School and then progressed to the Central School of Art at Margaret Street. He was a student under
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Bernard Cuzner at the Birmingham School of Jewellery and Silversmithing in Vittoria Street. Shiner did much valuable work as a teacher at the Bournville and Vittoria Street Schools. He designed a wide variety of objects mainly for public rather than private use. These included badges of office, maces, civic plate for several towns, silver for Birmingham, Cambridge Manchester and Oxford universities as well as a presentation sword for the RAF. In the 1930s he undertook a refresher course at the Central School of Arts and Crafts under HG Murphy. The Goldsmiths’ Company purchased several domestic pieces in the Art Deco style at this time ranging from a fruit bowl (1932) to a biscuit box (1939). Shiner worked as a freelance designer for Wakely and Wheeler as well as other manufacturing companies and also for retailers such as the Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company (later Garrard’s). He retired from teaching in 1970. He died in 1989. SHORT, Jane She undertook her art foundation course at Bideford School of Arts and Crafts from 1971-2, studied at the Central School of Art and Design from 1972-5 and at the Royal College of Art 1976-9. She fell in love with enamelling at the Central School and Gerald Benney at the RCA encouraged her passion. Thanks to a Travel Scholarship from the RAC, she visited Japan in 1979. Initially she worked in London at workshops she shared with former RCA students and combined working to commission with undertaking enamelling for others and teaching. In 1989 she moved to Brighton and established her own workshop. Her work is in many private and public collections. Her masterpiece is the Four Seasons Tazza which she made for the Keatley Trust. It was completed in 2007 having been two years in the making. In 2008 it won the Jacques Cartier Memorial Award for outstanding craftsmanship. See pp.430-7. SILVER WORKSHOP LIMITED A design and manufacturing company founded by Ian Calvert, Tony Laws, Keith Redfern and Ronald Stevens in 1963. It operated until 1972 when the four equal shareholders went their separate ways. See p.405. E SILVER & Co The company was based in Bond Street post World War II and produced stunning designs made to a high standard of craftsmanship. The Pearson Silver Collection has a three-piece Art Deco service of a ‘streamline moderne’ style (1947) and a pot pourri engraved with stylised classic female actresses, musicians and dancers (1953). SMITH, Alan Born in 1947, he undertook his pre-apprenticeship course at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. He served his apprenticeship at the Silver Workshop Limited. He made a centrepiece as his masterpiece in 1970. He then worked as a craftsman in the workshop of Christopher Lawrence before moving to Grant Macdonald where he was appointed workshop manager in 1976. In the late 1990s he faced his largest challenge – overseeing the making of the 1.5 ton, 7m high cross and orb for the rebuilding of Dresden Cathedral. SMITH, Frederick Newland Born c.1882 in Bridgwater, Somerset. Not a great deal is known of his life, but in 1904, while at the Bridgewater School of Art, he won a silver medal in the National Art Competition, ‘for a careful copy of “A Slave”’. He served during the First World War in France and Germany with the 1st
E Silver & Co Known by its owners as ‘the flying tea service’, the tea pot and to some extent the jug look as if they are about ‘to take off’. When auctioned by Bonhams in December 2008, it was described as an Art Deco service with a ‘streamline moderne’ design. Estimated at £1,5002,000, it took just short of £3,950 to secure it. Length of tea pot 31cm. London 1947. Courtesy The Pearson Silver Collection, photographer Bill Burnett
Battalion, the Honorable Artillery Company. In 1919 he designed and made a silver, gold and enamel casket for presentation to the Earl of Derby. For 33 years he was Head of the Gold and Silversmithing Department at the Manchester School of Art. During this period he was a member of Manchester’s Red Rose Guild of Artworkers. A silver rose bowl by Smith is in the Manchester Art Gallery. He moved to Welwyn Garden City in 1943, becoming a founder member of the Welwyn Garden City Craftworkers’ Guild in 1945 and its treasurer until 1949. He was Deputy Master in 1951-2 and Master in 1952-3. The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths has an engraved silver beaker in its collection made at about the time he retired from Manchester. He received commissions to make pieces for several churches. He died in 1969. SMITH, Keith H Born in 1929 he taught silversmithing at Loughborough College of Art and Design for over 30 years. He was course leader of its highly regarded Silversmithing and Jewellery Department. He undertook a wide variety of private commissions and made larger pieces for the local authority and neighbouring educational institutions. In 2000 the Crowood Press published his book Silversmithing: A Manual of Design and Technique in 2000. The paperback was published in 2005. SMITH and HARRIS Dennis Smith and Gareth Harris met in 1975 at the Sir John Cass School of Art in London. Smith was studying for a diploma in Silversmithing and Jewellery. After-
wards he went to work for K. Weiss as a gold box maker. Later he was appointed house designer at Edward Barnard and Sons, London’s oldest silversmiths. Harris attended a preapprenticeship course at the Cass. He served his apprenticeship with Padgett and Braham, and was indentured to Victor de Bossart a specialist box maker and a descendant of French Huguenots. Working together at Edward Barnard and Sons in 1980 they decided to establish their own business. In 1981 they took over the remaining lease of Richard Hodd and Son’s workshop in Hatton Garden. It had not changed a great deal since the mid-19th century. While Smith and Harris were still bolting machinery to the floor, the first important commission arrived – to make diplomatic gifts for the new incumbent at 10 Downing Street, Margaret Thatcher. Over the following years Smith and Harris moved from being a specialist trade workshop, supplying important retailers and other silversmiths, to being designer-craftsmen in their own right. Today they have a worldwide client base. SMYTHE, Wallace Born in 1911 he became a lecturer at Chesterfield College of Art. Like many educators he was also a designer-silversmith. Mappin and Webb employed him as a freelance designer. In March 2011 the New Hawley Gallery at Kelham Island Museum, Sheffield, opened to the public with its first exhibition featuring ‘the life and designs of Wallace Smythe who will be 100 years old this February’.
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