Goldsmiths' Review 2010-2011

Goldsmiths’ Review

eDItoR: David Beasley

AssIstA nt eDItoR: Eleni Bide

eDItoRIAL AssIstA nt: Raakhee Zaman

Copyright © 2011

The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, including copying and recording, without written permission from the copyright owner, application for which should be addressed to the Goldsmiths’ Company. Opinions expressed in Goldsmiths’ Review are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Goldsmiths’ Company. Whilst every effort has been made to verify statements of fact by contributors, no responsibility is accepted for errors or omissions by them. Prospective users of techniques, materials or equipment described should take specialist advice on official safety precautions and regulations which apply to them. Both may vary from country to country.

Correspondence

The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, Goldsmiths’ Hall, Foster Lane, London EC2V 6BN

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Cover illustration: Brooch, 1999, gold, by Jacqueline Mina Shannon Tofts

the new prime warden

By Eleni Bide

Hector Miller is best known for his work as an internationally renowned silversmith and designer, creating objects which combine graceful sculptural form with functional integrity. However, a discussion with him quickly reveals a very diverse range of interests. A new commission based on a bee skep brings back memories of climbing trees as a child to help his father catch swarms and, before long, he is discussing the possibility of establishing beehives on the roof of the new Goldsmiths’ Centre. Photographs,

sketches and models around his office hint at other preoccupations: the natural world, a restoration project and, of course, his equally artistic family.

Hector was born in 1945 and spent his childhood in West Sussex. He was encouraged by both parents to explore his inventive and creative talents, and, at the age of 18, he enrolled at the Worthing School of Art. Here, his chief interest was sculpture, but it was his tutor, the jeweller Peter Hauffé, who helped foster an interest in silversmithing. Places at the respected Hornsey College, where he won the first of several design competitions, and the Royal College of Art followed, with Hector rising to the challenge of combining study with a range of commissioned work. After his final-year show in 1971, he was offered a job by Stuart Devlin, initially on the shop floor, before moving on to a design and management role. In 1974, he made the decision to set up his own business and soon established a team of silversmiths in a Camden Town workshop, formerly belonging to Leslie Durbin, later moving next door into the service station originally built for Bugatti where he still works today.

Employing 15 skilled craftsmen at its height, Hector’s workshop produced a wide range of silver objects for an international clientele that appreciated their high technical quality and design finesse. Important early clients included Aurum Designs and through them the Shah of Iran, who ordered a complete dinner service. He received his first commission from the Goldsmiths’ Company – a water jug – in 1976, and the collection now includes 12 of his pieces. As the decade progressed, his designs evolved in decorative complexity and were increasingly influenced by botanical forms. This theme continued to develop during the 1980s and early 1990s, when the workshop focused on ever larger projects such as making silver cutlery, hollowware and other objects for an American company which specialised in luxury interiors for aircraft, yachts and palaces. This new direction proved

especially important at a time when the UK domestic silver market suffered a severe decline and the experience also allowed him to work in collaboration with international manufacturers of porcelain and crystal. However, smallerscale commissions were still important and, in 1992, he completed two pairs of waiters and salvers for The Silver Trust to be used at Downing Street.

The success of the business inevitably meant that a large proportion of Hector’s time was spent in the office and the studio rather than the workshop, but his principal passion remained making individual pieces. By the end of the 1990s, he had decided to scale back the large project work in order to spend more time designing and creating silver which explored his own sculptural aesthetic in more depth. It is this creative path that he continues to follow today: a vessel made for the Company’s 2011 summer exhibition Mindful of Silver epitomises his fascination with capturing the essence of forms inspired by nature. The strong shapes he produces are now rarely decorated, enhanced only by the reflective qualities of the metal or by the addition of enamel work by his wife, the goldsmith and enameller Frances Loyen.

A problem-solving instinct has meant that technical innovation has gone hand in hand with aesthetic exploration. He pioneered the development of tungsten inert gas (TIG) arc welding, which allows component parts of a piece to be joined together seamlessly without solder and which is now a technique increasingly popular with other craftsmen.

Over the years, Hector has lent his technical and creative talents to the Goldsmiths’ Company and has become a key player in many of its most significant initiatives in support of the craft. His first visit to the Hall was with a group of art school students to see an exhibition – an experience which will be familiar to many! He became a freeman in 1975 and a liveryman in 1986, taking a particular interest in the Company’s training and promotion schemes. Mindful of Silver has been a pet project of Hector’s for

some time, arising from a desire to explain how silversmiths get from initial design concept to finished piece.

Also coming to fruition this year is the project to establish the Goldsmiths’ Centre, an initiative which developed from a discussion in 2006 between Hector, Grant Macdonald and Stuart Devlin, who proposed the visionary idea of establishing a creative institute for the craft. With the addition to Devlin’s concept of managed workshops and facilities for exhibitions, corporate hospitality and catering it has been possible to turn this dream into reality.

Hector is particularly excited by the potential for symbiosis between students and apprentices at the Institute and the

all encouraged to learn practical skills at a young age and he now has two small grandchildren, Gloria and Pearl, who have already made spoons in the workshop. Looking forward, he hopes to spend more time making silver, enjoying the luxury of choosing the commissions he undertakes and the freedom of his wellequipped workshop space, where he has single-handedly made almost all of the work that bears his hallmark over the last decade. But, in the meantime, there is the challenge of leading the Company as Prime Warden. Hector hopes that during his year he will be able to represent the trade community and encourage further involvement from amongst its numbers with the work of

he acknowledges that it is a fantastic honour to have the Goldsmiths’ Centre open in his year as Prime warden

established designers and craftsmen in the new building, believing both will thrive from contact with each other.

On a more practical level, he has enjoyed using his experience as a member of the Architectural Steering Group and giving advice on workshop specifications.

Reflecting on the project, he acknowledges that it is a fantastic honour to have the Goldsmiths’ Centre open in his year as Prime Warden, though, of course, while the construction is drawing to a close, the main task of putting the Centre into operation is only just beginning.

It is perhaps not surprising that the energy and enthusiasm which characterise his professional life are also evident in more personal projects. Over the past few years, he and Frances have spent time restoring a small hamlet near Toulouse.

This mammoth task, now nearing completion, has seen Hector produce the architectural drawings and work on many of the buildings himself, adding rustic masonry and antique joinery to his metalworking skills. His children have certainly inherited this creative bent; Sam, a sculptor, Lucy, a fashion accessories designer and Ros, a photographer, were

the Goldsmiths’ Company. Steeped in the traditions of silversmithing, but with a finger firmly on the pulse of new developments, he is certainly well placed to do so.

PrimeWarden reminisces A past

By Michael Galsworthy

One benefit of long train journeys to and from Cornwall was the opportunity this gave me to write speeches – on one occasion, First Great Western’s Chief Steward even contributed! Most importantly though, my great year began with a glorious late spring visit to Trewithen, my home, by members of the Court and their wives.

On reflection, since I became a Freeman in 1973 and, then, a Liveryman in 1991, I have certainly learned a great deal about the Company and its operations. However, actually being at the helm of one of the Twelve Great Livery Companies has been a riveting experience. This is a living, working company as relevant to the trade today as it was 700 years ago, with a firm emphasis on training, education and support for the craft and with an active, real engagement with the craft industry, the Assay Office, our apprentices and young designer silversmiths.

Of course, the Hall is an architecturally splendid listed building, but it is far

more than just a showcase – its heartbeat is about people, adding value, helping and training the younger generation with educational support, preparing for the future, anticipating needs and seeking to affect market conditions. There is a sense,

me, a year of team play of the highest order and has given me a genuine pleasure to be in the Hall.

One source of personal satisfaction, before I took over as Prime Warden, was to have raised a beaker myself, in Cornwall, under the watchful

there is a sense within the hall, of vitality and there is a commitment to fulfill objectives that is utterly relevant in the 21st century

within the Hall, of vitality and there is a commitment to fulfil objectives that is utterly relevant in the 21st century. For me, a particular source of pleasure has been the staff of the Company. Dedicated, committed, caring and professional in their approach to their working life and with a willingness to help, they have been very supportive of this Prime Warden. With ready smiles, friendliness and constant good humour, from the front desk to the Assay Office and every department in between, this has been, for

eye and guidance of the silversmith Charles Hall. I wanted to know what it felt like to make something myself – what it meant to raise, to anneal, to planish and to polish. Having never done anything like this before, the experience was immensely rewarding. The beaker was a present to my wife. The greatest moment of all was the privilege of striking my own mark in the Assay Office and, above all, to strike the ‘King’s mark’ – the leopard’s head. I even earned congratulations from

the Deputy Warden and Dave Merry!

The act of making something for myself from the start and applying the same principles used by craftsmen through the centuries opened my eyes to an industry sector of which I had limited prior knowledge.

Over the years, I had, of course, the pleasure of commissioning items of silver or jewellery and the marvellous ‘magnolia’ dish which Richard Fox made for me was reported in last year’s Review. My own experience of making gave me, for the first time, an insight into the skills required by a silversmith and heightened my respect and admiration of all those engaged in the trade. I have learnt a great deal about the fine craft industry and I now appreciate, fundamentally, the technical virtuosity, the creativity, the versatility, the expressiveness and the accomplishments of our modern-day British craftsmen, who are the envy of the world. Another highlight was the Court Foursome dinner in July when one of my guests was Lord Peel, the Lord

Chamberlain, accompanied by his wife. I had discovered that the inaugural dinner to mark the opening of the current Hall was on 15 July 1835 and was attended by Sir Robert Peel, the first Lord Peel. The Court Foursome in early July 2010 was to be held exactly 175 years after that inaugural dinner and it seemed to me only appropriate to invite the first Lord Peel’s great-grandson to share the occasion with us. It was a memorable evening, with the Hall lit precisely as it had been in July 1835. The fact that our speaker that evening was also my sister, Amanda Galsworthy, who has been a personal interpreter for past and present French Presidents, and was then accompanied by the French Ambassador, added a further sparkle to the event. My main objective in my year was to ensure the timely delivery of the new Goldsmiths’ Centre. This will represent the largest single measure of support ever given by this Company for the fine craft industry. I regard the Centre as being of supreme significance in the long history of the Company because it will lift, to a new level of achievement and competency, our long-term commitment to vocational training and education. Since the 14th century, the Company has been binding apprentices and now the Centre and the Goldsmiths’ Institute within it will redefine and intensify that continuing mission. So the topping-out ceremony for the Centre, which I performed on 15 March, was for me a highly significant moment. It was the opening of a new chapter in

Alison Byne

the long, rich history of the Goldsmiths’ Company. Another high spot in my year was certainly the visit of HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. I was

year. Firstly, Ben Ryan’s dish for mussels was much admired before being presented, as the Young Designer Silversmith Award 2010, to the National Museum

honoured and delighted that they had both accepted my invitation and that this visit was designated as their first official visit to the Company.

I had specifically asked if His Royal Highness would like to learn at first hand about our vocational training work and meet both apprentices and young designer silversmiths as well as inspect our collection of silver plate. I think the visit was a stunning success and I can tell you that both the Prince and the Duchess were absolutely thrilled. I will long remember two other important events which gave me great pleasure and personal satisfaction in my

of Wales in Cardiff. It was spectacular both in size and shape. I also had to speak a sentence in Welsh, which for a Cornishman is no mean feat!

Secondly, the magnificent StudioSilverTodayevent, at the National Trust’s Kedleston Hall, was in a stunning location which has a beautiful collection of silver. It was a great and very genuine pleasure to be there with Theresa Nguyen, who was chosen to be the artist in residence for the year. The National Trust is now as equally enthusiastic to promote creative artistry in silver, delivered with technical virtuosity, as it is to safeguard and display the treasures of the past. Rosemary Ransome Wallis is to be applauded for this splendid initiative, which follows on from the Dunham Massey exhibition last year. I could not have managed this year without the marvellous help and support of my fellow Wardens and, above all, the solid partnership that I have enjoyed with the Clerk, Dick Melly, whose wise counsel I sought on many an occasion. I am immensely grateful, too, for the willing help and organisational skills of Rayne Hield, who managed a complex social diary with adroitness and constant good cheer. Finally, I wish my successor, Hector Miller, every happiness and success, and who, as a practising silversmith himself, is well placed to guide this great Company through a further year of development.

of the year Review

New Designers 2010

“The Goldsmiths’ Company award really kick-started my career” said silversmith Michelle Clare. “I started selling work almost as soon as my degree show was finished and I made many useful contacts”.

As part of her prize, jewellery winner Elizabeth Humble undertook a mentoring

project with Lorna Watson, Creative Director of Astley Clarke. According to Elizabeth “it was great to get involved with the jewellery industry in my first year after graduating. Both Astley Clarke and Karin Paynter gave me fantastic support”.

summer school 2010

Eighteen second-year silversmithing and jewellery students were chosen to attend the 2010 Summer School, where they were challenged to think differently about their design philosophy and develop their creative faculties. Under the guidance of Stuart Devlin delegates took part in design projects, visited the workshop of Grant MacDonald and David Marshall, and learnt networking skills at a reception attended by industry figures.

Goldsmiths’ Fair

Paul Dyson, Director of Promotion, reported that buying and commissioning at this year’s Fair proved that the interest in and appreciation for innovative, design-led, high-quality, hand-crafted jewellery and silver is not only strong but on the increase. In general visitors to the Fair are discerning, well-informed and keen to learn more about the skills and techniques used by the craftsmen which, in the

current economic climate, is extremely positive.

Young Designer silversmith Award 2010

Ben Ryan was well-supported at the presentation in Cardiff of his extraordinary mussel dish to the National Museum of Wales on 25 November 2010. As well as the Prime Warden, Michael Galsworthy, there were, from left to right, Andrew Renton (NMW), Carl Padgham, Ben, Oliver Makower, from Bishopsland where Ben was a student, the

his energy and skill in raising such a large piece of silver.

Getting Started

Rebecca Hill (second right), one of the participants on this prestigious course, said “It was a thoroughly enjoyable week which I would recommend to anyone”. She was one amongst many who gained an invaluable insight into how well-established silversmiths and jewellers had approached the business side of the craft. Other topics – pricing work, social media and setting up exhibitions – provided insights which were, according to Rebecca, “invaluable to my business”.

Prime Warden and Andrew Putland. Carl and Andrew’s workshop hosted Ben and they were very impressed with

Jacqueline Mina: Dialogues in gold

One-man shows bring new perspectives. For Jacqueline “it was quite astonishing to discover that a succession of individual pieces, made one by one over the years, could culminate in such a range of varied work, at Goldsmiths’ Hall in February. I hope that it has been as inspirational for others as it has been insightful for me. I am now returning to my bench to continue to make art in gold”.

Young Designer silversmith

Award 2011

After the Trial of the Pyx in February, the Delivery of Verdicts in May, was marked by the attendance of the Master of the Mint for the first time since 1996. The Rt. Hon. George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the presence of the Prime

Warden, chatted to Master Whitaker, the Queen’s Remembrancer, and to Adam Lawrence, his Deputy Master at the Mint, before a favourable verdict on the coinage was delivered by the Jury.

Shaun Grace’s winning design for flower vessels was modelled on the Sydney Opera House. They will be made under the guidance of silversmith Steven Ottewill and will be presented to the Victoria and Albert Museum in the autumn. Shaun feels that “this award is by far the biggest achievement of my career so far – obtaining such a prestigious accolade and then having the finished work displayed at the V&A really will be a dream come true”.

Studio Silver Today at Kedleston hall

Theresa Nguyen is thoroughly enjoying her experience as Silversmith-in-Residence in the magnificent setting of Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, owned by the National Trust. Her empathy with the detailing of fine craftsmanship in the house is conveyed in the decoration of her beaker which she is making and which will be won by one lucky visitor.

Her conversations with the general public have been a delight and they, in turn, have been genuinely surprised at her skills and that one so young can have made so much of the silver which is on show by her bench.

topping out ceremony at Goldsmiths’ centre

The presence of all the four Wardens, offsite and together, was to mark the achievement of Martin Drury and Peter Taylor, who have been masterminding the plans behind the construction of the Goldsmiths’ Centre. The Prime Warden, supported by his fellow Wardens, ‘topped

out’ the building on 15 March this year and described the occasion as ‘an event of major importance for the Company and the Board of Trustees of the Centre as it represents a significant point in the journey towards the realisation of this ground-breaking initiative.’

Royal visit

HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall received a warm welcome from the Prime Warden and Company staff during a visit to Goldsmiths’ Hall on 23 February. The Royal couple talked to apprentices, young silversmiths and jewellers about their work, and, as an Honorary Assistant of the Company, the Prince struck the leopard’s head mark, first introduced by Edward I in 1300.

The Corieltavi silver bowl: 2000 years old

The Corieltavi bowl, a beautiful 2000 year old Iron Age silver bowl, in the hand of Frank Hargrave, and a replica, held by Alex Brogden, were exhibited at the Hall recently. Alex, who made the copy, commented “Examining and handling this ancient silver bowl was a fascinating and

exhilarating experience. What made it so exciting was being able to literally feel and recognise the marks and techniques of the ancient silversmith. The fundamental skills of the silversmith have changed so little over the centuries”.

trial of the pyx

Julia Skupny

Skupny

Balfour Beatty

Adrian Brooks Adrian Brooks

Goldsmiths beside the seaside:

sIR

bARthoLomew

R eAD’s ch ARItY

By Eleni Bide

Opening a plain brown archive box is always exciting. No matter how unpromising the label on the lid, the contents never fail to yield unexpected glimpses into the past. Even so, the discovery of tales of benevolence, intrigue and a forgotten artwork hidden under the listing ‘Read’s Charity, Cromer School’ came as something of a surprise when an author researching the seaside town

asked to see some of the Company’s archives.

The story began in 1505, when Sir Bartholomew Read bequeathed to the Goldsmiths’ Company various properties, including a great mansion in the parish of St John Zachary. The document stipulated that the money provided by these estates should be used to pay for a ‘virtuous’ and ‘cunning’ priest to ‘keep and continue within the said town of Cromer

[Read] was fabled to have held a feast for 100 people in Goldsmiths’ hall ‘furnished with fruitful trees, beasts of venery and other circumstances’

a free grammar school teaching there with good diligence gentlemen’s sons and good men’s children, and, in especial, poor men’s children’. Read was very specific about the type of person he wanted to be a teacher in his school – a graduate or a good grammarian. Crucially, the Company had the power to dismiss the priest if his behaviour was not up to standard.

Read was an important figure in the Company: a goldsmith, Prime Warden three times, a City dignitary, a Knight of the Realm and master-worker at the Mint. He was fabled to have held a feast for 100 people in Goldsmiths’ Hall ‘furnished with fruitful trees, beasts of venery and other circumstances’ when he became Mayor in 1502. Enormously wealthy, it is probable that he began his life in Norfolk, possibly Cromer, before being apprenticed in London to Hugh Bryce in 1478. The provision for a grammar school at Cromer was only one of many charitable bequests made on his death, when he was about 46 years old. The sole obligation of the Company under the terms of Read’s will was to pay an annual sum of £10 for the master of the school, which should not have been a very onerous task. However, over the centuries, the challenges of keeping true to Read’s wishes and managing the expectations and activities of the residents of Cromer over such a distance gave the Wardens a good deal of trouble. They were frequently called upon to settle local disputes or to discipline wayward schoolmasters. The records show that, while the locals were always respectful, they were not above trying to use the Company for their own ends.

On 17 May 1643, the Court of Assistants considered a petition signed by the inhabitants of Cromer protesting that the vicar (and late schoolmaster) Mr Talbot used the £10 stipend to pay other men, generally ‘scandalous in their lives and short in their abilities’ to fill his post. The next problem occurred in 1768, when the churchwardens of the town complained to the Company about the schoolmaster, William Cozens. The response of the Court, reprimanding Cozens and exhorting him in future to ‘endeavour to give satisfaction to all the inhabitants, so that the Company may not hear of any further complaints’, had an air of exasperation. The most explosive correspondence contained an accusation, made in 1827, that the young master, Simeon Simons, seduced a servant girl and went about at night in disguise. In a passionate reply, Simons admitted that he sometimes blackened his eyebrows when keeping vigil over his father’s vegetable plots, but claimed that the other reports were borne of malice after his refusal to permit a political meeting at the school. The Wardens’ response was exquisitely diplomatic and Simons eventually retired as schoolmaster at the grand age of 75.

But however problematic the Wardens found the school, a sense of duty inevitably led to further involvement. In 1820, the Prime Warden, the Second Warden and the Clerk went on a fact-finding mission to the town, reporting several problems, including an inadequate schoolroom and ‘the very irregular manner’ in which the boys were being taught. As a result, a sum of £250 was granted for the building of a new school and the master’s salary was increased. The resultant building was later recorded by Philip Hardwick, the Company’s surveyor, in a beautiful watercolour found hidden amongst papers detailing the school’s administration and various unsuccessful attempts by the Company to develop land which it owned in the area.

Although a magnificent elevation for ‘Goldsmiths’ Square’ by Charles Beazley, c.1825, is also amongst the papers, it was never realised.

The Company continued to keep an eye on the school and some members clearly enjoyed their seaside visits to check on its progress.

The Company’s connection with the school finally ended in 1898, when it was recognised that Read’s Charity could not meet modern educational requirements and a statutory school board took over. The

Charity Commissioners received the remaining stock of the charity alongside a substantial donation from the Company’s corporate funds, which was used to form a foundation providing scholarships to local children.

The Cromer Exhibition Foundation continues its work to this day and stands, together with the school building (now a private house), as a reminder of Read’s enlightened generosity five centuries ago.

Cromer Free School, 1833, watercolour, by Philip Hardwick Images: Richard Valencia

Handbill listing rules for Cromer Free School, c.1835

Elevation of Goldsmiths’ Square, c.1825, watercolour, by Charles Beazley

Mindful of silver

By Julie Chamberlain

In 1994, a photograph of Hector Miller’s studio in Goldsmiths’Reviewshowed a surface crammed with rough drawings, models, design tools and ideas in progress. This image communicated the energy and challenge of a design process. From this photograph, the seeds of an idea were sown that eventually grew into the concept for the MindfulofSilverexhibition. Silver objects are appreciated for the ‘making’ time and the material costs, but the development process which lies behind each piece is less understood. Peter Musson suggests that ‘silver deserves intelligence’ and it was this

belief, with its inherent assumptions, that has given credence to the original concept. Offered the challenge to develop this initial idea, I have enjoyed an ongoing dialogue with Hector and the participating makers on all aspects of realising this exhibition.

The passion that drove Mindful of Silver forward was the desire to give value to the thought processes underpinning a finished object. This decision-making process, and the considerable time devoted to it, is rarely seen by the viewer. Much of this multifaceted journey uses experiential knowledge, tacit understanding and

Centre with its focus on educating a new generation of makers.

Participants were selected from the wide spectrum of current contemporary silver practitioners in order to challenge the engagement of the viewer with the diversity of approaches that this presents. The selection includes Vladimir Böhm, David Clarke, Sarah Denny, Rebecca de Quin, Grant McCaig, Alistair McCallum, Hector Miller, Peter Musson, Theresa Nguyen, Michael Rowe, Toby Russell and Lucian Taylor. What has surprised me is the similarity in each maker’s process, despite the variety of media used to explore ideas, and the placing of differing emphases along the way.

The focus of the exhibition was on the conceptual rather than practical processes with which a maker engages prior to the completion of a piece – what takes place from the point at which the silversmith has an initial thought or

or to make good rough drawings or models.

Many of the makers subsequently commented that, by following these requests, they had become more aware of what was generating their ideas and more conscious of a process that is often instinctive.

maker’s understanding and stimulate their thinking. It is often the key to unlocking an idea and, although generally perceived as an illustrative process, it is far more expansive.

intuition, all of which are difficult to quantify or document. My intention, therefore, was to exhibit physical evidence of this process where possible, alongside the finished work, to increase awareness and, ultimately, appreciation of it. Here was an opportunity to arouse the curiosity of the viewing public to see behind the scenes. Hector and I both recognised that this would present a challenge to the traditional expectations of an exhibition at Goldsmiths’ Hall, but we firmly believed that this should be embraced. It was particularly appropriate in this year, 2011, with the imminent opening of the Goldsmiths’

the focus of the exhibition was on the conceptual rather than practical processes with which a maker engages

concept to the stage at which all decisions have been made. The notion of the vessel is, and has been, integral to the technical heritage of the silversmith. The brief, to produce a minimum of one new vessel, was set as a shared starting point, to unify and serve as a container for the different thought processes of each maker. The word ‘mindful’ was chosen to reflect a thoughtful awareness and respect and to imply minds, full of ideas and thoughts.

To provide evidence of their individual process, the makers were asked to keep a ‘metaphorical box’ into which they put anything and everything that contributed in some way to the intellectual and physical development of their piece.

Tea-stained scribbles, drawings using differing media, photographs, text, objects, material samples – all were to be included. An honest recording of the process from the very beginning was important. The exhibitors were asked to resist the understandable urge to be

How is an object created from what is often a fleeting first thought? All of the objects in this exhibition were born out of curiosity and a personal belief in the possibility of ‘something’. This curiosity, described by Michael Rowe as ‘investigative visual thinking’, reaches far beyond the immediate subject area, with makers exploring and embracing a plethora of rich source material. For Sarah Denny, this was her homegrown vegetables, whilst, for others, visual references in this exhibition range from an ancient Croatian drinking trough to crispbread! This investigation is an essential part of the creative process, building a personal visual and intellectual library. This store of material enables a designer to develop patterns of thought and ways of thinking to move their work forward. In addition to research for a specific project, practitioners continually make judgements about all that they see and experience. Does it work? On what terms does it work? Does it look good? If not, why not? What is the big idea? Is it appropriate? How is it made?

The exploration of initial ideas continues through the use of drawing used as a means to increase the

As a means of research, drawing is not passive but, rather, an energetic and enquiring tool used to develop a deeper understanding by recording information, speculating about possibilities and working through a problem. Drawing can be a collage, a quick gestural mark or the carefully observed illustrations of Theresa Nguyen. It can be done on a computer, on the back of an envelope or over a photocopy, perhaps using diverse media such as charcoal, Tipp-Ex or paint. Interestingly, and in contrast to the perceived norm, none of the 12 makers used a conventional sketchbook or placed emphasis on collating ideas sequentially.

The term drawing is also used to encompass models which are generally produced as 3D sketches and generated with a similar purpose to that of their 2D counterparts, whether a twist of paper or a carefully carved plasticine form.

Shapeandform 2010, silver, aluminium, on MDF base, by Rebecca de Quin Images: Richard Valencia

Mokume Gane bowl, 2010, by Alistair McCallum

Liner jug, 2010, silver, by Toby Russell selective, to fill the ‘box’ retrospectively

In some instances, the metal itself takes on the characteristics of a ‘drawing’, as seen in Alistair McCallum’s intricate layers and Grant McCaig’s sensitive pleats and folds. Drawings and models continue to be used, as the idea develops, to explore fully the possibilities and constraints, aesthetic considerations, purpose and intention. Incremental adjustments are achieved through focused and critical thought, alongside continual reflection and analysis in relation to the original concept. The design process is a creative search within the management of constraints. Some are negotiable, others, where a practical function is desired, less so. Good designers play. They have a willingness to take risks and to lay themselves open to surprises, to turning things upside down. A fundamental difference between the makers in this exhibition is the point at which the playing stops: for some, it is prior to the physical making; for others, it continues almost to completion.

Good designers play. they have a willingness to take risks and to lay themselves open to surprises

Makers will start with a clear intention for the finished piece, which remains central throughout. However, the objects themselves are not always visualised as a finished, detailed design prior to making and, therefore, an element of serendipity or risk is allowed. What is important to

acknowledge is that every aspect of a finished piece is there because a careful decision has been made. The maker has questioned each and every element – whether it be proportion, surface detail or function. It is equally important that the viewer takes the time also to question. For example, if it does not look like silver, then, why has the maker taken this decision? When everything is working within the parameters of the original intention, it can often be experienced as a physical sense of ‘rightness’. This exhibition allows the viewer a rare insight into the decision-making processes of a group of makers who embody differing philosophies and approaches to the subject; from those who apply design aesthetics to objects of utility such as Hector Miller and Toby Russell, to others including David Clarke, whose work offers provocative stimulation. The diversity of finished pieces may inspire, challenge and even annoy the viewer, but the intention is that everyone who visits the exhibition will find something that engages, regardless of personal preference, and will experience a growing respect for the imaginative and skilful understanding each of the individual makers has for his or her subject and material. I have taken three

of the silversmiths as exemplars of the varying processes employed.

Vladimir Böhm

Describing metal as moving in a particular way, Vladimir works with pure metals creating solid simple forms while “listening carefully to the reverberations of this movement”. He intensively observes and records his environment using photography, video and drawings that strive to understand what lies beneath the purely visual information. This investigation is rarely translated to a predetermined design. Preferring to operate on the edge, he approaches each new piece with only ‘impressions’. The models which he makes are often post partum, not to resolve but to understand the piece better, thereby building the discernment that will be brought to subsequent work. With no desire to impose his will on the final object, the act of making, whilst allowing for the unexpected to take place, is crucial to his thinking, as he says “it is often hardest knowing where to leave”. It is his continual and sensitive observations, his empathy with silver and his willingness to “listen” and to take risks that enable him to work so directly and successfully in this way. Naturally drawn towards the “chanciness of surface treatment”, Vladimir has created precisely controlled areas of reticulated metal, enriched with fused silver dust, small particles, granules and pieces of fine silver wire.The references

for this piece are clear throughout his ongoing research but, in particular, the finished piece embodies the weight, solidity and history of a centuries-old cattle trough in his native Croatia.

Rebecca de Quin

Fascinated by the abstract still-life compositions of painters such as Giorgio Morandi and Ben Nicholson, Rebecca has explored the practice of collecting, arranging and displaying. Responding to the theme of the vessel, she has worked in series using what has been learnt from one piece to inform subsequent pieces. The development and questioning of her ideas take place in small notebook sketches, relief collages and full-size sketch models. A builder/constructor by nature, Rebecca works through a broad choice of materials: composing forms and structures through cutting, shaping, joining and then re-making to adjust or alter. The variety of incomplete, solid and hollow forms produced in the initial stages of her process generates an opportunity to explore potential relationships between grouped pieces. “I can uncover an enormous amount of information in a short time through models that I believe would remain hidden in drawings. Flexibility is key in that I can revise my thinking in a direct way by re-arranging and re-shaping, adding structural and decorative detail until a satisfactory outcome is reached”. Through participating in Mindfulof Silver , Rebecca has come to value the

characteristics of these models and collages for what they are in themselves. They have become more important for the questions and qualities of ‘unresolvedness’ that they denote than as representations of resolved designs in silver.

Lucian Taylor

Lucian’s ‘skeuomorphic’ pieces explore the surface of hollowware objects as flexible membranes to be ‘plumped up, possibly to the point of bursting’. What is enough and what is too much? Generated by notions of abundance, his forms owe much to observations of Dutch still-life painting and a playful exploration of materials: stuffed animals, inflatables and gourds all make their presence felt.

A computer is used to develop forms and shape the templates necessary to build them. The skeletons of these digital objects are time-consuming to create, but can then be explored from all angles while being altered, stretched or squeezed.

Lucian does not allow the precise aesthetic of the computer to dictate, feeling that to replicate the virtual forms

would be to conform them to a geometric sterility rather than allow them a life of their own. From the templates, he explores the forms using paper models, but it is when work begins in sheet metal that the “richness and subtle nuances of form” can be appreciated. The vessels are assembled from flat panels of very thin metal, then inflated with high-pressure water until a plump ripeness is achieved. The ideas and the decorative elements are realised through pushing the silver sheet to its physical limit. The possibility of the metal bursting makes this an inherently uncertain process that deliberately embraces risk, allowing each piece an exuberance of its own.

Preparatory sketch for Counterpoint 2008, charcoal on paper, by Vladimir Böhm

Blackened dish, 2010, sterling and Britannia silver, by Vladimir Böhm

BecomingsphericalI&II, 2010, fine silver, with CAD design of form (below), by Lucian Taylor

Group of forms in copper, aluminium sheet and mesh, and modelling foam, by Rebecca de Quin

Committee The Charity

By David Peake

One of the many pleasures of involvement with the Goldsmiths’ Company is the feeling of continuity, of being a part of a story that has gone on for many centuries and, in a constantly updated way, will continue for many centuries to come.

Nowhere perhaps can this be better felt than in the Company’s charitable work. This, in close combination with support for the craft, was central to the role of the Company which was formalised by Edward III’s charter in 1327, and it remains so today.

In the financial year to 30 September 2010, the total amount of charitable grants made by the Company,

excluding the costs of administering them, was £3.6 million. This sum included two exceptional grants: £900,000 towards the cost of constructing the Goldsmiths’ Centre and £170,000 to Cambridge University. If these items of exceptional expenditure are put to one side, then £1.2 million (48%) went in support of the craft, £310,000 (12%) was devoted to education and just over £1 million (40%) went to general charitable causes. It is with this last segment of the Company’s charitable work that the Charity Committee, and this article, are largely concerned. From the beginning, the Company’s charitable

activities were funded by present and former members, in certain cases to a very substantial degree. Of particular note are the bequests of Martin Bowes, Hugh Myddelton, John Perryn and Edmund Shaa, who are specifically mentioned in the prayers at the annual service at St Vedast. It is the fruit of these benefactions that today largely finances the donations recommended by the Charity Committee. Again, from the beginning, as Peter Jenkins points out in UnravellingtheMystery, priority was given to supporting “poor members of the Company and their dependants, poor members of the trade and their

dependants, and poor Londoners”. This continues today, albeit at a rather lower relative level and in rather different ways.

The Charity Committee, which meets every month throughout the year, except in August and September when the Hall is closed, consists of four Assistants (including the Chairman and an Emeritus member) and seven Liverymen (which term in Foster Lane is gender-blind!). Liverymen are normally appointed for threeyear terms, renewable once or twice, and additional liverymen may be appointed for shorter periods in furtherance of the Company’s policy of involving the Livery as much as possible in its affairs. Assistants may continue as members for as long as they feel able, apart from the Chairman, who, quite rightly, must retire at 80.

Before each meeting, the Clerk, the Deputy Clerk and the Charity Administrator meet to familiarise themselves with the appeals received, decide which of these they should each introduce to the Committee and whether or not they feel that the appeal should be supported (without specifying an amount). Those appeals that are recommended for ‘no grant’ are reviewed by exception by the Committee and any that it considers should be reviewed are readmitted under their appropriate heading.

The members of the Committee contribute specialist knowledge of, for example, the medical, musical and cultura fields, as well as experience of the charitable area in general. But each member has their own say on all appeals, regardless of specialism. In other words, they act as the best form of enlightened amateur. The Charity Administrator provides her measure of professional expertise.

Although less concerned, perhaps, than the earliest goldsmiths were with the foundation of chantries for the good of their own or their fellow-craftsmen’s souls, the Company remains faithful to its main long-standing aims of assisting poor Londoners, relieving poverty in the Greater London area and elsewhere, and supporting national charities in the fields of general welfare, medicine (but not medical research), youth, cultural and artistic activities, and churches (mainly achieved by an annual grant of £50,000 to the National Churches Trust). An interesting recent initiative has been to extend help to the Stepney Episcopal Area Fund,

An interesting recent initiative has been to extend help to Stepney Episcopal Area Fund which supports churches in need

been developed for providing, on a revolving basis, significant support to Community Foundations around the UK. Otherwise, the Charity Committee’s task is to recommend to the Court relatively modest grants, normally of £3,000 to £5,000 each, to a large number of registered charities where it is considered that such support, and also, just as important, the use of the Company’s name, will make a difference.

One of the Charity

which supports churches in need immediately to the east of the City.

Support for individuals in need in London has been channelled in recent years through the welfare departments of selected London boroughs and through private-sector bodies like School-Home Support and the R.L. Glasspool Charitable Trust. This enables the Company to provide small amounts of money direct to needy families where this can really help.

Since, in the same way, it is difficult to identify the precise points of need for support to individuals and small charities outside London, a system has

Administrator’s tasks is to monitor, as far as is possible, the results of such support without placing an undue burden on sometimes quite small organisations. In the year to the end of September 2010, the total number of applications received was 516, of which 360 (70%) were awarded grants. While it is impossible to visit all the causes supported by the Company, a number of charities are chosen each year to be visited, usually by the Deputy Clerk and the Charity Administrator and, occasionally, by the Clerk himself or a member of the Committee. It is hoped, with additional help from

liverymen, to increase this number in the future.

Two weeks after each meeting of the Charity Committee, the recommendations are considered by the Court of Assistants, and the Committee’s Chairman, with the help of the Deputy Clerk, prepares himself to respond to the requests of Assistants for the elucidation or amplification of its recommendations. Once the Court’s approval is given, the grants are made and the Charity Committee permits itself to feel a certain glow of satisfaction in having helped the Company to continue an activity which it has carried out for hundreds of years.

Julia Skupny

Julia Skupny

The triumphes of golde: Goldsmiths’ in civic pageantry the Company

By Dr Tracey Hill – Department of English and Cultural Studies, Bath Spa University

The Lord Mayor’s Show, still held annually to celebrate the inauguration of the new Lord Mayor of the City of London, is of considerable antiquity. The role of the Lord Mayor itself dates back to the 12th century and the first known incumbent was Henry Fitz-Alwin (of whom more later). The mayoral inauguration became increasingly associated with ceremonial from the Middle Ages onwards and the cost of these entertainments fell to the members of the City livery company to which the new Lord Mayor belonged. The pageantry of the shows

reached its zenith in the 17th century with the involvement of professional dramatists, including Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, John Webster and Anthony Munday, which I have discussed in greater detail in my recent book, Pageantryand Power:ACulturalHistoryof theEarlyModernLordMayor’s Show , published last year. The Lord Mayor was traditionally elected from the ranks of one of the Twelve Great Livery Companies of the City of London. Although the Goldsmiths’ Company was, of course, one of these Great

companies, it was responsible for an inaugural show on only one occasion in this period, in 1611, when the Lord Mayor was James Pemberton.

Pemberton’s Show was produced by the playwright, translator and pamphleteer Anthony Munday in association with the artificer John Grinkin.

The Show resulted in a book called Chruso-thriambos

TheTriumphesofGolde, 500 copies of which were printed.

There is, therefore, evidence from this book (alongside the Company’s own archives) of the pageantry employed on the day of Pemberton’s inauguration.

The surviving evidence reveals that the 1611 Show was a lavish production. Unusually, it featured a professional actor as one of the performers, John Lowin, who happened to be a member of the Goldsmiths’ Company. Lowin, a highly regarded actor and member of the King’s Men theatrical troupe based at the Globe playhouse, played the role of Leofstane, otherwise known as Fitz-Alwin, the first Lord Mayor of London. Fitz-Alwin featured in the Goldsmiths’ Show because, it is claimed in Chruso-thriambos, he was ‘a Golde-Smith… by profession’. Such a claim is understandable in the context of an entertainment designed explicitly to praise ‘the Ancient, Worthy and Right Worshipful Company of Golde-Smithes’ and their ‘Honourable Brother’, James Pemberton, but it was a controversial one. In fact, it is not known to which company Fitz-Alwin belonged. Indeed, on another occasion – the Lord Mayor’s Show for 1614 – Munday himself asserted (with some evident embarrassment) that the honour of having the first Lord Mayor was due to the Drapers’ Company, not the Goldsmiths. In this instance, Munday was writing a Show on behalf of the Drapers, his own Company, and perhaps got too carried away with his desire to glorify them. Chruso-thriambosis, like other Shows from this period, composed, in the main, of various emblematic tableaux created to display some aspect of the history and/or the trade of the livery company in question. As well

as the ‘Orferie’ showing ‘Pione[e]rs, Miners, and Deluers’ digging up gold and silver ore which is then ‘framed into Ingots’ and finally assayed by the ‘ingenious Say-Maister’,

leopard, distributing fish and coins to the onlookers. The use of fish and coins works to link together the Fishmongers and the Goldsmiths, two companies with what Munday calls a long-standing ‘league

the Show included two figures called Chorison and Tumanama, an ‘Indian King and his Queene… mounted on two Golden Leopardes’, brought back from the Indies to accompany ‘no meane quantity of Indian golde’. This device reappears in a slightly different guise five years later in another Show written by Munday, this time for the Fishmongers’ Company, the book of which is entitled Chrysanaleia. In this instance, illustrations of the Show’s various pageants were also produced and, so we can see the ‘King of the Moors’, as he was then called, seated on a

of loue and amity’. The pageant device demonstrates, as the 1616 Show has it, ‘that the Fishmongers are not unmindfull of their combined brethren, the worthy Company of Golde-Smithes, in this solemne day of triumph’ and, indeed, the printed book begins with an historical account of the ‘league of loue and fellowship’ between the two companies, which Munday dates back to the time of the Crusades. However, as with the uncertainty about the corporate affiliation of London’s first Lord Mayor previously discussed,

‘the ancient loue and cordiall amity/Between the Fishmongers & GoldSmiths Company’ that Munday stresses in Chruso-thriambos is contingent rather than absolute. No-one, Munday writes, should mistakenly ‘thinke the reason of that vanity/Makes FishMongers support the Gold-Smithes charge,/And their expences shared equally’. Civic unity is all very well, but the penultimate speech of Pemberton’s inaugural day reminds the assembled throng that it is ‘the GoldSmiths sole Society/That in this Triumph beares the Pursse for all’. The Goldsmiths’ Company was not prepared to share the limelight on Pemberton’s inaugural day!

The pageant of the King of the Moors from Chrysanaleia from the Fishmongers’ Pageant Scroll, 1616, watercolour. Courtesy of the Fishmongers’ Company

The title page of Anthony Munday’s Chruso-thriambos Courtesy of the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge

Portrait of John Lowin aged 64, painted in 1640, oil on canvas, British School Courtesy of the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

the object summons up images of war, suffering and religion

In October 2010, Chris Knight won the Museums Sheffield Metalwork Design Award for his silver and stainless steel chalice, Lest We Forget. The press release described the piece as ‘made from silver and stainless steel using integrally cast, graphic elements. Both striking and powerful, this chalice challenges our expectations of a traditional religious object to explore the seductive power of danger’. The chalice also challenges some of the public assumptions with which Chris has burdened himself over the years: the spikiness and punky, bad-boy image.

Again, this is an ongoing sequence which has been in development from student days, when the main exhibition piece in his final Royal College of Art (RCA) show was a candelabrum. In these objects, there is a much clearer fascination for geometry, for the careful de-construction and rebuilding of hard, geometric form.

Chris Knight Royal visit Goldsmith

more explicit in its ideas than much of his earlier work, LestWeForget is one recent piece in a sequence of liturgical vessels which Chris has been developing since 1996, in association with private clients in the USA, who are members of the New York Roman Catholic Community. He has long been exploring the religious and iconographic value of altar and processional plate, as well as that used in the Mass.

user and shocks one’s complacency. He manages to bring an edginess and disconcertion even to his domestic ranges. As he himself says, he wants to “keep people engaged with his work”. Projecting spikes give one pause for thought – compelled to approach his objects with caution and to assess the objects afresh. Are the spikes, for example, on the tequila shots now in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery aggressive or, as with the cacti from which the tequila is produced, protective? Will it hurt when one picks them up? Is the spikiness a preventative or merely a sharpening of the experience?

Around this structure, he builds sweeping, organic and dynamic curves. Delicate, spun pod forms perch precariously or hang like ripe fruit against solid, angular silver or aluminium bars.

a fiercely provocative work, charged with sexuality and danger.

Graham Hughes Collections

The graphic qualities and integral casting of Lest We Forget are a new departure for him, but so, too, is the poetic, contemplative nature of the piece. It is a sacramental vessel which expresses its function both practically and symbolically. The object summons up images of war, suffering and religion. The ranks of embedded crosses run rhythmically across the surface of the vessel, reminiscent of the vast war cemeteries of the 20th century. The piece is heavy, a thick gauge of metal, and the sharp points of the crosses press painfully into the hand as the vessel is held: a reminder of penance and suffering. How could communicants drink from the cup without snagging their lips? Their blood would mingle with the consecrated wine in a strange physical remembrance of sacrifice and redemption. However, while

The chalice has joined a growing and significant body of his work in Sheffield Museums, part of their outstanding collection of contemporary British silver and metalwork. Chris is now well represented in public collections in the UK. Recent acquisitions of his work have been made by Aberdeen Art Gallery, the Shipley Art Gallery, the National Museums of Northern Ireland and Norwich Castle Museum, joining established collections in Goldsmiths’ Hall, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Crafts Council and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. With objects like Lest We Forget, though, there is always a sense of regret that they will never be used in real life. Their acquisition by a museum places them in a protected environment, where the implications of their practical use will never be tested or enjoyed.

Chris describes his work as both functionally and visually provocative. But his work has never been simply provocative for the sake of it; and it embodies a thoughtfulness which belies its outward sensationalism. His provocativeness is a stimulant to the

The same questions of approach apply equally to his series of tea sets. In spite of their domestic nature and a fundamentally practical and practicable function, an apparent instability, impossible geometries and the startling use of colour again prompt a wariness in the user: “Should a tea pot look like this? How do I pick it up? Will it tip? Will it topple?”.

Chris has been exploring the formal qualities of tea sets since he was a student, testing conventions and the possibilities of manufacture, and seeking to avoid design stereotypes.

There is, he feels, a self-referential tendency within silversmithing.

Silversmiths are often too sensitive to the weight of history behind their craft.

In a deliberate embracing of a different aesthetic, much of his work, he states, is speculative and questioning. He asks not how a tea pot should look, but how a teapot could look when freed from established notions. There has been a steady and conscious progression within his tea sets. The funky designs of the 1990s, with their use of coloured polyurethane, have developed into more carefully structured works, setting high polish against richly coloured anodised aluminium and playing with notions of tea drinking as a communal activity and as a social rite, as well as with the formal geometries of the objects themselves.

He has brought the same analytical process to his series of candelabra.

These are elements and concepts which Knight pursues on a larger scale too. He is one of the few silversmiths who is able, successfully, to work in both domestic and architectural contexts, in steel as well as fine metals.

Since the mid-90s, he has been contributing to major architectural schemes, at Baltic Quays in Gateshead, in various sites within central Sheffield and at Festival Place in Basingstoke. He has also undertaken freestanding sculptural works in Corten steel and stainless steels.

Sheaf Tree (2004), on Brewery Wharf, Leeds, is a rationalised celebration of natural form, developing elements found in his domestic candelabra.

Here the visual references to a sheaf of barley are executed large-scale in sharp, red-rusted, laser-cut Corten steel. Desire (2001), on the Blackpool promenade, on the other hand, is

Knight also carries with him a reputation as a brilliant and ground-breaking technician: a pioneer of computer technology, a gifted and determined tool maker and skilled precision engineer. All these techniques, however, are nothing more than tools and a means to an end. It is still the act of making objects which excites him.

One of the first silversmiths to venture into the field of digital technology, his first experiments came during his undergraduate course at Sheffield (1983–7), when he gatecrashed the Engineering Department’s huge and cumbersome mainframe computer. He developed and refined his computer skills at the RCA, working on Apple Macs under the tutelage of Rebecca de Quin. When Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery acquired a tureen and serving spoon in 2000, Chris was the first artist to present his working drawings in the form of computer-generated print. Computer-aided design is an important process and still fundamental to the design of his large-scale commissions.

Graham Hughes

By Martin Ellis – Curator (Applied Art) Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Lestweforget chalice, 2010, silver and stainless steel Museums Sheffield

Chris Knight, courtesy of Adrian Sassoon

Chris Knight

It is, though, nothing more than a tool, “a glorified drawing board”, as he describes it.

However, in spite of his engagement with new technologies, his actual workshop practice is essentially conventional. He works from technical drawings, which were, until the advent of modern software packages, painstakingly re-drawn from the 3D computer images. He makes most of his own jigs and chucks, and will tool up his workshop as if for a large-scale production run, even when making a one-off object. He describes tools as a comfort and a safe haven. Tool-making is a protective thing, reinforcing his status and skill as a maker.

The new pieces, made using integral casting, are, he feels, a key development of his practice, in which innovation in form, idea and process are working hand in hand. Although he used integral casting in some of his early work at the RCA, the process has reached a new maturity in the past two years and marks a fundamental formal development in his oeuvre. The high polish of silver and the brilliant colours of anodised aluminium in his established work are replaced by

strong, powerful forms, cast in massive silver. These are weighty objects. The matt, rough-finished silver and the rhythmic intrusions of stainless steel elements have a new visual strength and clarity. The complex concepts contained within his work, which are sometimes masked by the visual challenge and dazzle of his domestic wares, are foregrounded here. The objects are functional, but not limited by their function. They are able to embody ideas of containment, of pain, of organic reference to nature, of integrity, without qualification by notions of preciousness or practicality.

But, while Chris has been developing this more personal expression in his practice, he continues to explore traditional silversmithing through major public and corporate commissions. He brings to the process an extraordinary ability for creative and generous collaboration. He played a key role in the creation of the Millennium Punch Bowl, an ambitious project which brought him together with the Sheffield silversmiths Brett Payne, Keith Tyssen and Alex Brogden in the production of a conceptual, celebratory object. The piece is now displayed in the Millennium Galleries in Sheffield

with its four original cups and is accompanied by an ever-growing number of companion punch cups, commissioned yearly by Sheffield Assay Office from invited silversmiths.

More recently, Chris led the design team, including Sarah Denny and Owen Waterhouse, responsible for the spectacular St Leger Trophy (2007). Again, this commission has been used as an occasion to stimulate multiple commission opportunities. Just as the Millennium punch cups have provided a continuing source of commissions for silversmiths, so the central element of the St Leger Trophy, a discrete rose bowl, retained at the end of the year by the winning owner, requires annual replacement. To date, the commission for a new rose bowl has been carried out by silversmiths Chris Perry (2008), Brett Payne (2009) and Jeff Durber (2010).

This collaborative approach has been fundamental to new works in public art undertaken by Si Applied Ltd, a company established with Brett Payne and Keith Tyssen following their collaboration on the Millennium Punch Bowl. Without doubt, their most celebrated and successful work has been CuttingEdge, the snaking, polished steel blade which greets visitors arriving at Sheffield’s mainline railway station. It is a spectacular gateway to the city, referencing the city’s manufacturing prowess and heritage industry, but carrying a wholly contemporary excitement as an installation. Their portfolio of street furniture, architectural structures and public art includes Chris’s glorious, lyrical design for the stainless steel installation The Birds Round Here, in Hoyland Town Square, Barnsley. This capacity for collaboration highlights another aspect of his work which is, perhaps, as significant as his achievement as an artist and silversmith. Throughout his career, he has been an animateur of extraordinary influence, encouraging and enlivening

the new

pieces, made using integral casting,

are, he feels, a key development

the worlds of silversmithing and design. He has been a promoter of the Contemporary British Silversmiths (formerly the Association of British Designer Silversmiths) as well as its Chairman and a key force behind the establishment of the Yorkshire Artspace Silversmithing Starter Studios at Persistence Works in Sheffield. Knight has acted as a catalyst in the creation of a community of forward thinking silversmiths and in its engagement with the wider arts and commercial worlds which, in Sheffield, is celebrated through the Galvanize Festival. As a teacher in Liverpool and, now, at Sheffield Hallam University, he has played a fundamental role as an enthuser and influencer of young silversmiths and designers. Chris’s achievement is unexpectedly broad. He is keenly aware of the support that he has received from

of

his practice

fellow silversmiths, the Goldsmiths’ Company, the Crafts Council, curators and critics who have fostered his development. But, ultimately, it is a very personal achievement. Not only has he found an individual voice through startling, idiosyncratic and authoritative work, but also, as both practitioner and advocate, he has established himself at the very heart of silversmithing and art practice in the UK.

Winged tea set, 2008, silver and aluminium Chris Knight, courtesy of Adrian Sassoon

Two tequila shots, 1999, silver Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery (BMAG) Chris Knight and BMAG

CuttingEdge 2006, stainless steel, designed by Chris Knight, Brett Payne and Keith Tyssen (Si Applied Ltd) and manufactured by Jordan Engineering Ltd Sheffield City Council Si Applied

Royal visit to Goldsmiths’ Hall

By Amanda Stücklin

THE Centre Goldsmith ’

Through the good offices of the Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company, Michael Galsworthy, HRH The Prince of Wales, accompanied by HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, was welcomed to the Hall on Wednesday 23 February 2011. Their Royal Highnesses

Charles was invited to strike the Leopard’s Head, the mark of the Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office, onto a small sterling silver plate.

The Goldsmiths’ Company sponsors and manages the last formal indentured apprenticeship scheme in

opportunity to see plans, illustrations and photographs of the Centre and to meet Company staff involved in this major project.

Over tea and coffee, the Prince and the Duchess spoke to a number of young silversmiths and jewellers,

he also expressed his admiration for the work of the Goldsmiths’ Company in ensuring that the skills and crafts of the goldsmith are maintained and developed

commenced the visit by inspecting the newly commissioned portrait of the Prince by Richard Stone, which is prominently displayed close to the grand staircase of the Hall’s marbled foyer. The royal visitors were then escorted to the strongroom, where the Curator, Rosemary Ransome Wallis, showed them items of antique silver and of contemporary silver by leading and up-and-coming British silversmiths. The Prince and the Duchess then moved to the Drawing Room, where the Prime Warden introduced them to members of the Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office, including Dave Merry, Head of Assay Office Training, and two young Assay Office apprentices, Robert Grant and Robert Hinson, who explained and demonstrated the hallmarking process. Their Royal Highnesses were also shown the new Diamond Jubilee mark and Prince

the UK, a scheme which has been running for almost 700 years. The Company currently has 24 apprentices ranging in age between 16 and 25. Four of the apprentices and their Masters were introduced to the Royal Party.

Another example of the Company’s support for the trade is an award scheme open to young designer silversmiths studying at colleges around the country.

Previous award winners of the Company’s Young Designer Silversmith Award were presented by Professor Richard Himsworth, Assistant and Chairman of the Company’s Modern Collection Committee.

In the Exhibition Room, the Royal Party was given a short briefing by Martin Drury, Chairman of the Trustees, on the Goldsmiths’ Centre, the newly formed independent charity established by the Goldsmiths’ Company. The Royal visitors were given the

who all have connections with the Goldsmiths’ Company. Before leaving, the Duchess of Cornwall was presented with a bouquet by Sasha Wynands (10) and Jessica Reeve (4), daughter and granddaughter respectively of Karen Green and Lyn Mills from the Assay Office. The Prime Warden, Mr Michael Galsworthy, thanked their Royal Highnesses for visiting the Company and said what a “profound honour it was to be able to show them how the Company engages with its core industry”. He then presented them with a silver and glass box, designed and made by silversmith Richard Fox, incorporating gilded magnolia leaves from the Prime Warden’s Cornish estate, Trewithen. Prince Charles replied by thanking the Prime Warden for his kind words and the beautiful gift. He also expressed his admiration for the work of

the Goldsmiths’ Company in ensuring that the skills and crafts of the goldsmiths are maintained and developed, and he wished the Company great success with the new Goldsmiths’ Centre. Before departing, the Royal Party admired the magnificent Livery Hall and the Company’s unique display of buffet plate.

The Prince is an Honorary Member of the Court of Assistants of the Goldsmiths’ Company and has been a liveryman since 1981. His Royal Highness last visited the Hall in February 2005. This was the Duchess of Cornwall’s first official visit to Goldsmiths’ Hall.

Prince Charles meets Robin Kyte (far left), the Company’s Apprenticeship Co-ordinator, and (left) strikes the ‘king’s mark’, under the watchful eye of Assay Office apprentice, Robert Grant

Graham Hughes Collections

By Rosemary Ransome Wallis

(1951–1980) and the

The Company’s post-war collection of silver, jewellery and art medals is the legacy of Graham Hughes, who died in October 2010.

Graham’s father, George Hughes, Clerk of the Company, had earlier initiated both the antique and modern silver collections at the Hall in the early 1920s stating that “there was a need for a revival in the industry that was depressed and unenterprising”. The focus was to be on the “improvement of design leading to a great encouragement to the craft generally”.

& Graham Hughes Collections

(1951–1980) the

The quantity of items that Graham acquired during his 30 years at the Hall as Art Director reflects his individual supportive approach to modern craftsmen emerging in the 1950s from the austere aftermath of the Second World War. The Collection in the 1950s was guided by the principle of encouragement. Additions were deliberately acquired to interest people in new silver design with “exhibitions being the best and almost only way of doing it”. So, typically, the iconic Robert Welch candelabrum (1958) was commissioned by Graham for the ArtinCraftsmanship exhibition in that year in the USA.

Robert Welch, along with Gerald Benney, David Mellor, Brian Asquith and Stuart Devlin, had studied at the Royal College of Art in the 1950s under Professor Robert Goodden who engendered optimism for new design in the silversmithing school there. Graham acquired modern domestic silver from these rising domestic stars, as well as others, at a time when the silver

trade was dominated by the big traditional manufacturing firms such as Wakely and Wheeler Ltd., Nayler Brothers, C.J. Vander Ltd., William Comyns & Sons and Padgett & Braham Ltd. Graham’s stance was “trade is life and we ignore it at our peril”. So he deliberately used the Company’s modern collection as a forceful marketing representation of new British design in an extensive annual loan exhibition programme, both in the UK and in venues overseas with displays of up to 200 items. The Company’s huge BeetleBowl (1962), by Gerald Benney, inspired by a microscopic underwater creature, was specifically commissioned to attract such attention to design when on exhibition.

Osman’s beautiful Unicorn HornBalance, silver gilt with narwhal tusk and rose quartz, commissioned in 1966 to commemorate Lord Runciman’s Prime Warden’s year, is eye-catching and evocative, in its balance and counter-balance, of the Company’s work of assaying precious metal. Graham’s belief in Osman’s artistry and his patience with this uncompromising and creative man has meant that the Company has an incisive collection of work by this imaginative artist craftsman.

Louis Osman was invited to participate in the Company’s landmark International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery,1890–1961. Using the expertise offered by the Victoria and Albert Museum, Graham showed 901 exhibits tracing the evolution of modern jewellery design. It was the turning point of resurgent artist jewellers and

it fine-tuned Graham’s eye for exciting new work, instilling in him a deep passion for jewellery. The exhibition’s competition, sponsored by De Beers ‘to stimulate advanced British jewellery design’, led Graham to form the Modern Jewellery Collection at the Hall. Specially selected pieces were commissioned from the exhibition from sculptors and jewellers. Graham, then, bought work from brilliant up-and-coming jewellers like John Donald, Andrew Grima, David Thomas, Gerda Flöckinger, Wendy Ramshaw and others, supporting them in their early years and seeing them develop into mainstream studio jewellers, worthy of one-man shows at the Hall. With the 1970s economic recession, Graham launched the Loot series of exhibitions at the Hall in 1975, which marketed new work through keen pricing. In the following year, some 1,400 exhibits, all priced under £100, were shown by 325 designers. The purchases for the jewellery collection now emphasised design rather than precious metal content, with delightful additions such as the silver and titanium brooch (1976) framing a perspective of clouds by Edward de Large. Similarly, giving support at a difficult time, Graham established the modern art medal collection at the Hall by purchasing 77 British art medals and 46 foreign art medals from exhibits in the Medals Today exhibition held at the Hall in 1973.

Last December, in Bonhams’ auction sale, DistinguishedDesignsand

Post-War Silver , a unique piece by Gerald Benney was sold to a private collector for £60,000. It is true to say that the bedrock for such a confident market in this period was laid by Graham during his time as Art Director at Goldsmiths’ Hall. The Hughes’s tradition of the Company’s encouragement of the craft through acquisitions for the Collection remains as strong as ever and, no doubt, will continue into the future.

Beetle Bowl 1962, silver, gold and peridots, by Gerald Benney

Images: Clarissa Bruce

Candelabrum, 1958, silver, by Robert Welch

Brooch, 1961, silver-gilt, set with one diamond, by Bernard Meadows

THE Centre Goldsmiths’

ElizabethI-thePelicanportrait after Hilliard 2010

These 12 painted enamels chart her progress in developing and refining her considerable skills, a journey which she started 34 years ago.

Centre Goldsmiths’

By Frances Loyen

A slim volume sits on the shelves of the library at Goldsmiths’ Hall on the work of Gillie Hoyte Byrom. The RichardCampbellCollection of Enamel Portrait Miniatures by Gillie Hoyte Byrom was produced in 2009 in a very small edition illustrating 12 exquisite portraits and gives a detailed explanation of how each piece was painted, layer by layer. This is a recipe book for those who would like to know how the work was achieved and a precise guide for those who would follow in Hoyte Byrom’s footsteps in creating small masterpieces.

I visited Gillie at her home in Devon, where she works from the studio she has had converted within the Devon Longhouse that she and her husband restored over the years into a comfortable home. It was an atmospheric drive from the station, the taxi driver pointing out the black clouds sitting on Dartmoor and telling me we were going to “the middle of nowhere”. Seeing the dark carved oak 16th century panels in the house, it all seemed in keeping with the portraits in the Richard Campbell Collection, many of them painted ‘after’ artists such as Hans Holbein the Younger (1497–1543), Nicholas Hilliard (1547–1619) and Isaac Oliver (1565–1617). Gillie had no formal training as an enameller or goldsmith. The daughter of a tea planter and a teacher, her early years were spent in Sri Lanka, the family moving to Norfolk when she was still a small child. Although introduced from an early age to art subjects by her family – her mother had studied textiles at Edinburgh and her aunt was a commercial artist – she opted for science subjects at school before taking a teaching degree specialising in zoology at Homerton College, Cambridge. In 1975, qualified to embark on a teaching career, she went

for a week-long break to Flatford Mill Field Study Centre to try her hand at stained glass, enjoying it so much that, at the end of her stay, she stepped in to fill the vacancy as cook. She later became secretary to the Warden. She stayed for two years.

When work was finished for the day, she would join in the courses, doing lots of drawing, botanical illustration and esoteric subjects such as ‘History in the Hedgerow’. Then, one day, she sat in on a demonstration of enamel painting and knew, as she put it, that “this was it”: she had to learn to paint using vitreous enamel. It was the beginning of a life-long passion. As part of her zoology degree, she had learnt the conventions of scientific drawing, spending four years looking into the lens of a microscope with her left eye whilst drawing. These line drawings had to be clear and simple with no shading and that discipline taught her very quickly to convey proportion. She studied botanical drawing at the same time and this all equipped her with a drawing

With this change of direction in mind, Gillie spent a year in Norwich attending the Art School for a short course in silversmithing, setting up an enamelling workshop in her mother’s basement and taking a PA/secretarial qualification. However, very aware of her limited contact with like-minded people and having heard of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen, she decided to head off for the West Country. At the time, there was no network, as exists today, of organisations around the country that encourage and support artist craftsmen, makers and designers. Devon, also the home of the Dartington Hall Trust, was the beacon to head for. She found a job and somewhere to live and continued to teach herself enamelling, showing and selling her work where she could – at the Cider Press Gallery and the Craft Gallery in Totnes, amongst other outlets.

For 12 years, she painted flower studies in enamel for jewellery and box lids, using a local jeweller to produce a range of settings for her enamels. She loved the brushwork, “the painterliness”,

one day, she sat in on a demonstration of enamel painting and knew, as she put it, that “this was it”: she had to learn to paint using vitreous enamel

language that she would not have gained at an art school at the time when formal observational drawing was no longer being taught.

of painted enamels and did not attempt other enamelling techniques such as champlevé, cloisonné or basse-taille, which

incorporate metal carving and forming.

Being self-taught, Gillie experimented freely, which added to the later fluency and speed of her brushwork – “errors have taken me off in good directions”, she says. But the results were haphazard and she realised she needed some training to further her technique, besides which

painting flowers had become rather repetitive. In 1987, Rosalind Savill, Director of the Wallace Collection, showed her the collection’s 18th century miniature portraits. For a painting to qualify as a portrait miniature the head size needs to be within 50mm and stand the test of full magnification. Gillie decided to find out “how to paint like that”.

Gillie Hoyte Byrom

RoyalGoldsmith

Gillie

Hoyte

Byrom

Alan Cooper Colour Labs

Here was something that bridged science and art and gave me method to follow”.

In 1985, her enamelled painting, Daisy Chain, was exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. It was a popular piece and, because of it, she joined both the Royal Miniaturists Society and, encouraged also by Jane Short’s interest, the British Society of Enamellers (BSOE). It was with the BSOE that she went to the Biennale International de L’Email in Limoges (France) and discovered the Llotja School. She had not found anywhere in the UK to teach her more advanced techniques and the Llotja in Barcelona ran a fiveyear enamelling course. She was accepted into the fifth year of the school because of her years of practice, taking extra master classes with Marie Angeles Cera de Derch, an expert in enamel painting. She learned to apply the paint by fine stippling, to use overglaze instead of underglaze “where the

chemistry can go so wrong” and how to lay down thin layers of paint onto a ground of opalescent white enamel.

Enamelling workshops are warm inviting places, the air is faintly aromatic from the oils used to thin and make workable the metal oxides which produce the colours. As Gillie fired and then removed a small painted plaque from the kiln, she was completely in control of the process, “but look”, she pointed, “completely black, it looks totally burned out… and now see the colour slowly comes back, it is almost alchemical, I have the same feeling of excitement now seeing the newly worked image emerge as I’ve always had”. The technique, which she learnt, of using white opalescent enamel as a base coat was a major breakthrough for her. She still speaks today with enthusiasm of its qualities: its texture and ability to take on the paint and absorb it on firing, and its visual effect. Having fired three opalescent coats, the

opalescence was lost but still not quite opaque. It is a perfect medium “to show the youthful bloom of a baby, the complexion just comes across beautifully”. She goes on to say, with a chuckle, “a craggy face is much harder to do..., I charge more for character lines”.

Gillie’s career, painting formal portraits of children and babies as well as horses, pets and houses, usually from photographs, continued and, in 1995, at the suggestion of Phil Barnes, the enameller, she submitted work to the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council in the new category of vitreous painted enamels.

This annual competition and exhibition of work, held at Goldsmiths’ Hall, is open to all those practising silversmithing, jewellery and allied crafts. The many categories within the competition give incentive to extend technical skills

portrait in watercolour on vellum in the Victoria and Albert Museum. She followed this, in 1998, by entering for exhibition with the Royal Miniaturists Society an enamel-on-gold piece, Isaac Oliver’s Portrait of his Wife, circa 1609. This was purchased by Richard Campbell, a collector of miniatures with a great interest in paintings of this period, who then commissioned a second piece, a self-portrait of the Elizabethan miniaturist Isaac Oliver, based on the original watercolour on vellum in the National Portrait Gallery. This was the start of a collaboration lasting 13 years, whereby Campbell commissioned, at least once a year, mostly historical enamel portrait miniatures. Every year, Gillie submitted her current miniature for

i have the same feeling of excitement now seeing the newly worked image emerge as i’ve always had

and provide a means for practitioners and students to exhibit and share knowledge within the trade. She entered four miniatures on copper and won all the prizes in this field. She also experienced the strong tradition within the trade to pass on and to share techniques, skills and technical advances, and to encourage quality of craftsmanship.

In 1997, Gillie was commissioned by the Hilliard Society to design and paint a presidential medal. She produced a very beautiful miniature portrait of Nicholas Hilliard in painted enamel, based on his self-

always encouraging her to experiment and to stretch her abilities. She speaks with gratitude of, amongst others, Alan Mudd, who explained to her about polishing enamels. Keith Seldon introduced her to the Genevan method of finishing the portraits with a thin layer of transparent enamel flux, which burns out some finer detail, this being allowed for in the painting process. Graham Hamilton of Kempson & Mauger taught her the many advantages of using gold rather than copper, which distorts far more easily in the firing. “It was a 15-year apprenticeship and I have been blessed to have been able to put together a collection that has honed my technical skills”.

she had to be guided by her research, studying portraits and sculptures. This is one of the ways that the historical pieces have stretched her most – she enjoys a project, immersing herself in work.

In taking an acrylic painting course, she found that the speed of the line achieved when painting in acrylic transferred to her miniatures.

best piece and it certainly holds its own against the portrait of King Henry in both technical skill and imaginative use of the medium.

Richard Campbell to the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council winning first in her class every time. She modestly states that there was little competition and that “over the years, I was competing with myself”. She stretched herself to improve technique, to experiment and to raise her standards, and the encouragement and generous patronage of Richard Campbell allowed her to experiment with such methods as underlaying precious metal foils in order to simulate the costumes of the period. Every year, the judges would give advice,

In 2007, her portrait Henry VIII 1537 after Hans Holbein the Younger won the highly coveted Jacques Cartier Memorial Award. This is the most prestigious award given by the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council –it is discretionary and only presented for the finest technical achievement. It was after the presentation of this award that she and Campbell decided to bring together the enamelled miniatures in a book.

Gillie enjoys academic rigour and a lot of the pleasure of creating the historical miniatures lay in the research that was necessary. For example, when commissioned to produce a portrait of Nelson,

Her membership of organisations such as the British Society of Enamellers and two major miniaturist societies, amongst others, has enabled her to exhibit regularly, to gain recognition and to meet like-minded artists. In 2000, she was given a solo exhibition at Studio Fusion on London’s South Bank and, in 2008, she exhibited at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen. In 2005, she taught enamel painting in Beijing and visited Russia in 2006 to make a comparative study of enamel painting. She now has plans to teach and “pass on the baton”.

Gillie painted a final piece in her collaboration with Richard Campbell in 2010 that is now an addendum to the book.

This followed on from her portrait of King Henry VIII and is based on the Pelican Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by Nicholas Hilliard. Here, she has refined her skill in stippling gold powder under a transparent flux that allows the gold base to shine through. She considers this to be her

The book is a visual record of the collaboration between a patron and artist, and illustrates how positive and satisfying commissioning a piece of work can be. The collaboration has allowed Richard Campbell to put together a collection of small masterpieces, each one an award-winning jewel, and Gillie has learnt, as thoroughly as she could ever have wished, to “paint like that” and to achieve the goal she set herself 34 years earlier.

There is another aspect to Gillie’s work, more subtle and one we did not discuss on my visit. During the latter part of those 34 years, she has made a living as a painter of miniature portraits. Looking at these other paintings, together with those illustrated in the book, a personal style can be seen to have developed. It is this achievement, not consciously sought, that transforms Gillie Hoyte Byrom’s enamels from very finely executed paintings to miniature works of art.

Rev. Jack Cruse and grandchild, 1996

Courtesy of the Rev. and Mrs. Jack Cruse Alan Cooper Colour Labs

Sequence for Hilliard badge (line drawing, 2nd of 7 firings, applying gold, and the Presidential medal, below), 1997 Courtesy of the President of the Hilliard Society of Miniaturists Gillie Hoyte Byrom

tH e unvarnis H eD trut H Thomas Vyner’s

portrait

By Jim Dimond

The late 17th century portrait of Sir Thomas Vyner, attributed to Gerard Soest, hangs in the Court Room at Goldsmiths’ Hall. It was the gift of James Temple, a former apprentice of Sir Thomas, in October 1671, some six years after Sir Thomas’s death. In February 2010, following an overflow of water from the floor above, which ran down the panelling onto the picture frame, the painting required treatment. Water is particularly damaging to canvas paintings, as the fabric material reacts strongly in water, often swelling and shrinking, and it is the shrinkage that is the critical aspect. Brittle paint layers can be disrupted by the movement in the canvas beneath. To add to this problem, paintings are often lined, which means that another canvas is glued to the back using a paste of animal glue and flour, all moisturesensitive materials.

London firm of picture dealers, recommended that it ‘be re-lined and varnished owing to the paint at the bottom of the picture leaving the preparation’. Once the canvas had dried out, it was found that there was some smallscale flaking in the paint layer, but the most disfiguring change was a large buckle in the lower half caused by the drying moisture. With the thickness and rigidity of all the layers, it would have been impossible to re-flatten the painting without removing the lining additions and replacing them with a new lining. There is no quick way of carrying out a re-lining other than manually peeling back the old canvas lining and scraping away the revealed glue layer. Sometimes, moisture can be used to aid this process. Once released from the board-like secondary linings, the original canvas was then re-flattened using

modern conservation principles encourage the use of materials that better stand the test of time

In this case, the painting had been double-lined with two extra fabrics on the back, which may have helped preserve the painting from worse damage than was actually caused. This treatment may have taken place in June 1920 when James Bourlet, a

dampened blotting paper and weights.

The new lining was carried out using canvas, as before, but with a modern adhesive that becomes tacky under heat and cools to produce a strong bond. It might sound old-fashioned but applying the heat with irons and

cloths allows considerable control. This is my favourite method of achieving such repairs, despite having hot table equipment.

Once back on its stretcher, the painting was cleaned in order to allow flake laying adhesives to penetrate beneath the paint layer more efficiently. This treatment also gave me the opportunity to re-do some of the old and clumsy restoration. After a number of centuries, paintings are treated over and over again; often, layer upon layer is added rather than removing the previous campaign and starting again. This can leave layers of dark and cloudy varnishes and obscuring overpaint. When Daniel Fair, of Great Queen Street, made new frames for the pictures in the ‘parlour’ of the second Hall in 1735, he also had them cleaned. In 1779, they were treated again. However, it has been the case that, in the last 30 years, more regular cleaning and varnishing has been the norm.

In this painting, the varnish layers were slightly blanched by the moisture damage and were completely obscuring the original paint texture. There was damage to the lower part of the face and the subsequent retouching was vague and discoloured. Tests were carried out to find the solvent mixture which would most efficiently remove

varnish and over-paint without damaging the original paint, and then they were carefully lifted, layer by layer. Once re-varnished and ready for the restoration section of the treatment, some new retouching was carried out to bring the image back together and to disguise the damage without giving too heavy an appearance. Modern conservation principles encourage the use of materials that better stand the test of time, so that varnishes and retouching media used do not discolour and can be easily removed if this is required at some point in the future.

The whole process from start to finish took two and a half months and was carried out in the summer whilst the Hall was closed. The painting now hangs in full glory in its rightful place in the Court Room, where it can be admired by both members of the Company and visitors to the Hall.

Two stages of cleaning the face (above) and (left) the back of the painting showing water stains on the canvas Jim Dimond

Goldsmiths’ Centre

By Peter Taylor

The Goldsmiths’ Centre is a new charity established by the Goldsmiths’ Company to redevelop and manage a purpose-built facility in Clerkenwell, London. It will offer education and training opportunities through the Goldsmiths’ Institute, the training arm of the Centre, as well as managed workspace, exhibition and conference facilities and a café. Work began on the site in May 2010 and the building is expected to be formally handed over to the Trustees of the Charity in October 2011.

In last year’s Goldsmiths’ Review, I reported that the Trustees of the new Goldsmiths’ Centre Charity were negotiating with a new contractor to replace the original company that had unfortunately gone into liquidation. I am now delighted to report that Balfour Beatty Construction Scottish & Southern Ltd has been appointed as the main building contractor. Although the delay to the project was regrettable, we were able to secure an extremely competitive price along with a highly qualified project team with an excellent record

for delivering high-quality buildings to time and to budget.

The construction of a building as important as this to our industry is a heavy responsibility for all concerned. The project is the culmination of over six years of meticulous planning, research and consultation with industry, Goldsmiths’ Company members and the London Development Agency. Watching this amazing building take shape is a reminder that this is arguably the most important step the Company has taken in its history and demonstrates its total commitment to our industry. Under the guidance of the Trustees of the Goldsmiths’ Centre Charity, a highly qualified team of consultants has been working behind the scenes to ensure that the vision of both the Company and industry is realised.

As soon as Balfour Beatty was on site, work began on creating the basement for the new building, a fascinating process to observe, as an enormous rig drilled a series of interlocking (secant) piles into the ground to a depth of 20 metres. As the huge auger used for this process was

The

withdrawn, concrete was pumped into the void before steel reinforcement was pushed into every other pile.

A capping beam was then added on top of the piles running around the perimeter of the new building and, once

the excavation, as soil was removed to a depth of four metres. In parts, this depth increased to six metres in the lift shaft, plant room and sump areas. The use of a secant piled wall was a decision based upon

watching this amazing building take shape is a reminder that this is arguably the most important step the Company has taken in its history

complete, the bulk ‘dig’ of the basement could begin.

Three substantial steel girders connected to the capping beam braced the sides of

concerns about the stability of the existing 1872 school building and, once this was in place, the contractor was able to undertake the final

demolition of the designated elements of the school building.

Diamond saw cuts were made through the concrete and brickwork in key locations before a ‘cruncher’, effectively an excavator with a pair of hydraulic jaws, took bites out of the reinforced concrete staircase installed in 1892. Once the staircase was removed, a much better sense of the future connection between the two buildings, where a glass bridge will connect the first floors of new and old, could be envisaged.

After what seemed like an age working on the basement, work finally began in November on the concrete risers, upstands and lift shaft, which, when completed, enabled the casting of the ground floor slab to take place. The pace of the development increased substantially as we entered the month of December, with the first floor finished before the bad weather set in. The concrete casting operations, however, had to be suspended because of the low temperatures and snow. With work on the first floor slab complete, for the first time we were able to see the scale of the exhibition and conference space – indeed, an exciting moment.

In March this year, the landmark Topping Out ceremony took place, which denotes the completion of the structural phase of the building. Michael Galsworthy, Prime Warden of the Goldsmiths’ Company, was given the honour of smoothing the last section of concrete on the roof terrace.

Work is now under way to create the block work walls that are defining the

workshop spaces in the new building and, also, to progress the refurbishment of the existing school building, which is moving at a pace.

Alongside the construction of the physical building, teams of consultants have been working on how the interior will look as well as the activities that will take place within its walls.

The Goldsmiths’ Centre has been developed from the outset to be more than just a building. Designed in consultation with the trade and industry, it will be a venue that lives and breathes creativity and craftsmanship, providing facilities of the highest standard for members of the jewellery, silversmithing and allied trades, the local community and the general public.

CRe Ativit Y, CRAF tsmANshiP, CommUNit Y

These three words summarise the Centre’s charitable purpose, defining the aspirations for the project and setting out the principles that sit at the heart of this endeavour.

As an educational charity, our aim is to support all aspects of Creativity. This will be achieved by encouraging the development of creative individuals, businesses and organisations through the Goldsmiths’ Institute, the education and training arm of the charity; by establishing the programme of exhibitions and events; and by the physical environment created on the site.

Craftsmanship will be encouraged and celebrated at the Goldsmiths’ Centre

and taught within the Goldsmiths’ Institute. Those who work or aspire to a career in the industry will be able to acquire new skills and to improve on existing ones. The general public will be given opportunities to interact and to better understand the skills that underpin our craft, and youngsters from the local community will begin a lifelong relationship with the industry that we all love. The Community will grow up within and around the Goldsmiths’ Centre. It will be essential to the success of the venture and will embrace the casual visitor, the aspiring apprentice or a member of the general public who is drawn to an exhibition or event. It will also, most importantly, embrace all those who work within the Institute, the workshops, the Centre’s staff and the

members of the Goldsmiths’ Company who lend their support to this exciting venture. By the time next year’s Goldsmiths’Reviewis sent out to you, I will be able to welcome you to the Centre to come and read it in the comfort of one of the public areas.

The site on 31 January 2011

An interior on 28 March 2011

Lord Sutherland with Rebecca van Rooijen, Project Officer, on site

An architectural perspective of the Centre

John Lyall Associates

then under the direction of Tom Smith, a future Prime Warden.

Learning his craft in a workshop renowned for its talented craftsmen and one which he had aspired to join, he quickly made a conscious effort to place himself firmly under the wing of the inspirational Lewis Marlow.

To this day, the 80-year-old continues to ply his trade and remains, in Tony’s view, an unsung hero of the industry. ‘Lew’ would teach the youngster the art of achieving excellence and the relevance of working quickly, whilst always stressing the importance of accountability.

in 1979 he won the Jacques Cartier Award, the craft’s ‘gold medal’, sensitively creating the head of michelangelo’s Pietà

tony

Bedford

Following an extremely successful silver manufacturing career spanning five decades, Tony Bedford has retired from his executive post at Asprey to enjoy his many interests. However, knowing his love of the craft, I am sure it will not be the last we see of him. As an accomplished yachtsman, he will, no doubt, find time away from sailing and his other various pastimes to continue sharing a knowledge gleaned

By Richard Jarvis

from working throughout a golden period of silversmithing alongside the industry’s finest craftsmen.

His journey began in 1963, when his father wisely approached the Goldsmiths’ Company’s Graham Hughes to seek advice on an appropriate career path. Subsequently, this led to Tony attending the Central School of Art, followed by an apprenticeship, in 1964, with Nayler Brothers, who were

A star pupil from the start, he was awarded the City & Guilds First Prize Medal and, in 1967, the gold medal at the international apprentice competition in Madrid. In 1968, Tony submitted a coffee pot for the Goldsmiths’, Silversmiths’ & Jewellers’ Art Council of London competition and achieved first prize in his category. The following year, a centrepiece, made as his ‘masterpiece’, won first prize in the Silversmiths (apprentices) section.

Newly qualified and, in 1969, gaining his Freedom of the Goldsmiths’ Company, he made, he recalls, his most difficult decision ever – to leave his mentor, Tom Smith, to join the newly established Stuart Devlin workshop. Although this was a dynamic period for the Devlin brand, the opportunity, two years later, of working for his good friend Grant Macdonald as part of a two-man team proved irresistible. Making a further move in 1974 to Michael Driver may not, in

hindsight, have been, he says, his best decision. It was, though, to prove a defining moment, as a reunion with Tom Smith led to his return to Nayler Brothers in 1975 as the firm’s workshop manager. Back with the man he so greatly admired, working life was to become truly fulfilling with the acquisition of Nayler Brothers by Garrard in 1976. Although acquired as a dedicated workshop, Garrard sensibly encouraged Nayler Brothers, to maintain its independence and to continue servicing its existing clients. Under the Garrard name, liaising closely with the exceptional Alex Styles, the volume of work for Tony and his team was prolific, varied and often spectacular. From a testing hand-raised reproduction piece to a 15ft high family tree, the demands were continuously challenging and often daring. This was, for him, the premier league of silversmithing, which would afford him the opportunity to travel extensively around the globe installing exotic commissions in palaces and government buildings. Prior to that, there were more accolades. In 1979, he won the Jacques Cartier Award, the craft’s ‘gold medal’, sensitively creating the head of Michelangelo’s Pietà, inspired by his admiration of the great artist himself. Chased and embossed from one sheet of copper, this gentle interpretation was described by Leslie Durbin, one of the judges and no mean chaser himself, as “a remarkable piece of craftsmanship and patience”.

Appointed General Manager in 1981 and promoted to the

Board of Directors in 1982, Tony was to take full control of Nayler Brothers in 1984 following the death of Tom Smith. In 1987, he was made a liveryman of the Goldsmiths’ Company, serving diligently on Company committees as well as on the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council. The sheer workload produced by the continued

the basis of mutual respect, never asking anyone to do what he could not do himself.

Although heaven help you if you were slow. The fine, but modest, craftsman was now the accomplished facilitator, always positive – a genuine problem solver and a joy to work with.

After setting up my own business in 1998, I continued

success of Garrard and the endless, brilliant designs of fellow Director, Alex Styles, meant that substantial outworking was essential, creating significant trade employment as a consequence. All of this work had to be co-ordinated, which Tony achieved by utilising his vast experience and organisational skills.

Having myself become Managing Director of Garrard in 1990, Tony was now reporting to me and a close working relationship ensued.

What I immediately discovered was that he managed his team on

us, excited by future projects such as the Goldsmiths’ Centre. He, I know, believes that this offers a wonderful opportunity not only to students, but also to people, such as himself, to pass on the skills that he has felt privileged to acquire. Currently, he is overseeing the refurbishment of his home, which, I can exclusively reveal, includes a small workshop. With this heartening news, we may well witness the dusting-down of his trusty tools and, possibly, the registration of his own maker’s mark. It is over 40 years since, on the day of his indenture, he was shown the registry entry for Paul de Lamerie. Nearly half a century later, his service in the trade has been highlighted by many notable accomplishments, but there is probably none greater than the esteem in which he is held by colleagues and peers alike. For my part, I look forward to seeing his next Pietà – and perhaps the chance to share some walking time with him in his beloved Lakeland Fells.

to collaborate with Tony for a few years at the merged Asprey and Garrard factory in Bermondsey, where 30 craftsmen were now under his direction. When the much publicised events at Asprey and Garrard unravelled, it led sadly to the phasing-out of the Nayler workshop. Tony’s skills and great integrity were then shrewdly utilised by Asprey from 2003 until 2010 in a demanding product development executive role with the company. Whilst appreciating his good fortune at being part of a fascinating and groundbreaking era, he is, like all of

Pietà, 1979, copper, by Tony Bedford

Tony Bedford in his younger days

Tony Bedford with Natalia Schroder at the GettingStarted reception in January Julia Skupny

jacqueline Mina

Jacqueline Mina began her professional art studies at the tender age of 15. Her early life was steeped in music and she seemed set for a career in singing but, in 1957, the offer of a junior scholarship to study art at Hornsey College of Arts and Crafts seemed to promise broader horizons. Music has, however, remained a defining element in her artistic life, as the art critic Marina Vaizey reflected, in a recent essay: ‘Mina’s art has resonant echoes of those series of inventive abstractions… permeated by musical understanding… by such artists as Kandinsky’. Music remains an active part of her daily life.

Mina remembers her time at college as one of considerable excitement. Bauhaus theories on basic design and colour theory had begun to supplant the more traditional academic models of life drawing and anatomy. She now feels that the two approaches, held in tension, provided a very fertile learning space for a young aspirant artist and she immersed herself in life drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking and calligraphy as well as the study of art history and regular museum visits, particularly to the British Museum. She was drawn to specialise in sculpture, following an interest in 3D form and material manipulation but, in the end, chose silversmithing, attracted to both the scale and also to the sense of being part of “an ancient tradition”. Interestingly, she also felt that this gave her a better chance of independent studio life as a woman. Her approach to silversmithing was actively influenced by the rigorous, but sensual, forms of designers like Henning Koppel, then active with the Jensen workshops. This,

By Amanda Game –Freelance Curator and Writer

allied with her interest in sculpture, particularly the work of British sculptors such as Moore and Hepworth, steered her away from decorative surface. However, ever unorthodox, she also began concurrently to study embroidery (despite objections from her tutors), which stimulated a lifelong interest in textiles. This can be seen most memorably in the surface richness of her oxidised gold and platinum mesh work of the early 90s, inspired by the fabrics of Fortuny.

The final part of what now seems the essential foundation of her future goldsmithing career began at the Royal College of Art. She had applied to do silversmithing but, in the course of the interview, one of the tutors suggested that she might prefer jewellery and, keen to get through the doors of the college, she agreed! Her conversion to the art of jewellery, however, became absolute in those three years at the RCA, as she discovered that jewellery could give her the greater design freedom and wider expressive range she sought.

She learnt the principles and practice of lost wax casting, deepening her technical and formal skills, and began to experiment with richly layered surfaces, responding to the freeform organic work of contemporary jewellers such as John Donald and David Thomas – she worked as Donald’s studio assistant whilst studying at the RCA. Mina has always been clear that technical experimentation and dialogue with material underpin her approach to jewellery. Although responsive to the work of many artists, it is the dialogue with precious metals and the desire to reveal their lustrous beauty, that inspires her. As she reflected in her recent exhibition catalogue for DialoguesinGold, ‘technical confidence and an open mind, receptive to inspiration… can combine to produce surprising results’. In an earlier lecture to the Society of Jewellery Historians, she also talked revealingly about an inherited sense of the importance of life “to be enjoyed” and how an artist’s responsiveness to the richness and beauty of the observed world can be communicated through finished works.

In 1966, Jacqueline established her independent studio in London, married her fellow student (the Greek Cypriot painter Michael Minas) and began the first steps of her 45-year journey into the art of goldsmithing, which was marked so richly by her recent retrospective exhibition DialoguesinGold held at Goldsmiths’ Hall this February. She remembers an early opportunity to show

some silver jewellery with the Ewan Phillips Gallery in London, which, under the new influence of Ralph Turner, was one of the first galleries to show an interest in the emerging field of contemporary studio jewellery. This exposure led organically to further chances to exhibit at the Primavera Gallery, at David Thomas’s shop and at Liberty, which was then, as now, busy reconnecting to its roots as a supporter of the handmade and small studio innovation. In a recent article, the current Director of Liberty, Geoffroy de la Bourdannaye, talks about his sense of returning Liberty to its “DNA values of love and rebellion” –features of both the 60s and the independent- minded artist herself!

Step by step, the works which Mina was bringing to life in her tiny home-cumstudio in southwest London began to attract buyers and commissions. She developed her vocabulary, exploring techniques such as samorodok, or reticulation, which allows for the controlled melting of the metal for surface texture. She began to work almost exclusively in gold, attracted by the unique versatility and range of the metal. As the heady experimentation of the 60s moved into the marketplace of the 70s, new galleries such as the Oxford Gallery (1968), Electrum (1971) and Argenta (1975) opened to answer the growing demand for imaginative studio jewellery.

Jacqueline exhibited at all of these venues achieving a solo show at Argenta three years later. Graham Hughes first purchased a piece of her jewellery for the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in 1975. The collection now has six major examples of her work.

All this offered sufficient support and encouragement to Mina, as did an increasing number of part-time teaching posts, from the mid-60s onwards, in colleges ranging from Middlesex, Sir John Cass, Farnham and the Royal College of Art, which she joined in 1972. This connected her to a stimulating learning environment and formed an

important part of her working life until the mid 90s. Her value as a teacher has been recorded by many and she, in turn, is clear that she has “a great deal to thank the students for and places a high value on the exchanges – of ideas, techniques, eureka moments, mutual discoveries”. It is worth reflecting, however, that throughout the 70s, the dominant, critically supported mode of studio jewellery was found almost exclusively in non-precious work, collectively termed the New Jewellery movement. Artists such as Susanna Heron, Caroline Broadhead, Pierre Degen and David Poston were challenging the

Brooch, 1991, yellow gold (part oxidised) with platinum mesh fusion inlay Joel Degan

Cuff/bracelet, 2004, textured gold Neil Mason

accepted formal, conceptual and material limitations of jewellery. Books and exhibitions, most notably at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, hosted performances and installations of body works made out of plastics, fabric and steel, enlarging the space for the jeweller and the work, and arguing for a break with the restrictions and the perceived values of precious metalwork. All this exciting and often brilliantly articulated work refreshed and reanimated the field of jewellery, and Mina was alert to this wave of freethinking, which chimed with her own unorthodox approach to tradition, albeit in a very different idiom. Her interest in the possibilities of new materials, for example, resulted in a new body of work in titanium in the early 80s – a material she has returned to again in recent years. But, as with gold, she found, and finds, a way of using the metal in her own way, discovering a rare sensuality of form and

resisting the superficial seduction of titanium’s dynamic colour range which was characteristic of much work of the period. Throughout the 70s, she quietly persisted with her own approach, not ignoring change but adapting it into her own way of being and working. Mina’s work with titanium is a good illustration of her distinct ability to see beyond the surface of a material –to work with its qualities, but also to challenge and push them to find the “rightness of an essential imagined form”. One senses a dynamic conversation and Mina herself talks about being “in the right mood” for goldsmithing to achieve a “harmony that transcends good judgement”. This dialogic state is clearly important to her ability to create animated forms or jewellery with ‘Spirit Resonance’, to borrow a phrase from Chinese aesthetics.

The potter Gordon Baldwin commented recently that “every artist needs a material to do his thinking in”.

Mina’s material is, of course, overwhelmingly gold, but her recent exhibition also brought together a formidable body of work in platinum. Like titanium, this is a hard, dense metal and is rarely used in jewellery other than as a foil for diamond setting. In contrast, Mina’s work extends the vocabulary of platinum into the realm of the unexpected, the animated and the sensual. Surfaces ripple to catch light – vide the roller-imprinted platinum necklace owned by the Goldsmiths’ Company (1984). Cold density is transmuted – in the featherlight improvisations with platinum gauze from the 90s.

Mina has always given intimate attention to how her jewellery works when worn. She works in a very direct, embodied way with her material, using mostly hand tools and supporting the dictum that “a wise artist works with their entire body and sense of self” in the creation of significant form. This embodied attention translates into the experience of the jewellery for the wearer, which has won the artist many loyal supporters over the years. It was a noticeable fact of DialoguesinGold that many loans came from individuals who owned several works and for whom the pleasure of wearing was clear. This links her, in my mind, to the wonderful fashion designs of the late Jean Muir – understated at first glance but, once worn, never forgotten. In her 2010 exhibition at National Museums of Scotland, Muir’s designs are described as

having the ‘appearance of graceful simplicity, but which are, in fact, intricately constructed’ – a phrase which seems to encapsulate Mina’s own work. Simplicity is a hard-won art.

Towards the end of preparing for her recent show, Mina reflected on the ways in which reviewing and selecting works from the past had given her ‘fresh insight and new inspiration’. As she moves into her fifth decade of studio life, it will be interesting to see what emerges. The richness on display at her retrospective – the gold ribbon-strip twist pieces, inspired by her work with Museum of London archaeologists, the strongly articulated plain gold forms, responding to the quiet presence of Cycladic sculpture and the delicate tracery of fusion inlay platinum, like shadows across the gold surface – all seem to hold within them the seeds of future forms. We, like her, should be excited at the possibilities yet to come.

Brooch, 2009, titanium, gold and platinum fusion inlay Neil Mason

Necklace, 2004, gold with platinum wire fusion inlay, using ribbon-strip twist technique Neil Mason

whilst some budgets have necessarily been curtailed, this has not impacted upon the Company’s major project – the Goldsmiths’ Centre

By Dick Melly

The invitation from the Librarian to prepare the Clerk’s report for the forthcoming Goldsmiths’ Review is always an opportunity for reflection. Such is the pace of change that it is occasionally difficult to focus on exactly what it was, over the period in question, that occupied one’s time so fully. It would be appropriate to start with developments on the Court. Following a comprehensive review of the way in which the Court operated, which was chaired by Professor Richard Himsworth, it was decided, amongst other initiatives, to put in place a Corporate Trustee for the Company’s charities. All members of the Court are automatically Directors of The Goldsmiths’ Company Trustee (company number 7343075) up to, and including, the year in which they are aged 80. There are also some legal safeguards introduced by this new arrangement. On the membership side, the Wardens were delighted to welcome four new Assistants onto the Court:

Edward Butler is the son of the late Sir Adam Butler. Having recently left the Army in the rank of Brigadier after a most distinguished career, he is now the Managing Director of Corporates for Crisis providing a bridge into emerging markets for international business and investment.

Edward Braham is a Partner at Freshfields (Solicitors).

Edward specialises in domestic and cross-border public and private mergers and acquisitions, including acting on private equity and infrastructure transactions. He is head of the firm’s worldwide corporate practice group.

Dr Charles Mackworth-Young is a Consultant Physician and is a specialist in Rheumatology, practising at Charing Cross Hospital and at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

Richard Fox is a renowned silversmith and is the Director (and owner) of Fox Silver Ltd. He is one of the leading lights behind the Contemporary British Silversmiths promotional organisation. His varied clients include Rolls-Royce, Pernod Ricard, Bulgari, Lambeth Palace, The Silver Trust and the Goldsmiths’ Company.

After much deliberation, Henry Wyndham decided to stand down from the Court in February 2011 and now reverts to the Livery.

In December, Tony Bowen stood down as the Hallkeeper after 13 years of service to the Company. He had been outstandingly successful in the role and his quiet authority (quite noisy when required) and ‘can-do’ attitude made him a much respected member of the Hall staff. He was replaced by Richard McCrow, who continues the recent practice of selecting an individual with an army background to this demanding role – albeit, in this case, he has more recent experience as a facilities manager.

The Company’s financial interests, corporate and charitable, have largely recovered their capital value following the ructions in the markets over recent years. The situation with regard to income is not so satisfactory and the prudent requirement to live within the Company’s means has meant that the various calls on funds have been looked at even more critically. Whilst some budgets have necessarily been curtailed, this has not impacted upon the Company’s major project – the Goldsmiths’ Centre – which, at the time of writing, is being delivered on time and within budget.

The Assay Office has had another demanding year. With the continuing downturn in the number of articles presented for marking, it was necessary to take further steps to curtail expenditure and to increase income. Very regrettably, this included further redundancies.

However, the Assay Office is now well poised to benefit from the upturn when it comes and the Court recognised this fact when it agreed, in December 2010, to a significant investment in a punch-making laser, thereby ensuring the timely and more cost-effective supply of punches. The Assay Office has made progress in diversifying the range of services which it offers to its customers. As well as providing consultancy services to non-UK assay offices, it is also smelting significant quantities of precious metals either as part of the jewellery-recycling process or on behalf of dealers. It is instructive to note that more articles of silver have been marked in the UK in recent months than of gold – the latter’s exceptionally high price being a key factor. Edinburgh, traditionally the smallest of the four assay offices, has recently become the biggest – in terms of articles marked.

The Goldsmiths’ Centre has continued to absorb an enormous amount of resources in terms of time, effort and, of course, funds. Following the collapse into administration of the original prime contractor during the summer of 2009, the opportunity was taken to refine some aspects of the building specification and to undertake some work to de-risk the project (including archaeological surveys and the removal of asbestos). The specification was then re-tendered and, on 18 March 2010,

Balfour Beatty Construction Scottish & Southern Ltd was awarded the contract to complete the project. They moved on to the site in April and started work in May. Fortunately, no significant archaeological remains were discovered whilst the basement for the new-build element of the project was excavated and, by November, the first signs of the workshop block were apparent above ground. The rate of ‘build’ was then most impressive, culminating in a ‘Topping Out’ ceremony on 15 March 2011 attended by the Prime Warden, the Chairman of Trustees and many of the supporting cast. Meanwhile, much work has been done by Peter Taylor, the Centre’s Director Designate, and his team to ensure that all will be ready when the contractor finally departs – and the real work begins. The project to rebrand the Company came to fruition towards the end of 2010. Whilst most of the Company’s paperwork was, by then, sporting the new coat of arms and associated typeface and layouts, the effort to launch the new website had still to bear fruit. The wait, however, was worthwhile and the Company’s new website, is without doubt, the most comprehensive of any livery company. This in part reflects its relative newness – but also the breadth of the Company’s activities embracing the Hall, the Assay Office, the Goldsmiths’ Centre, the large membership and the wideranging charitable work. The website’s membership area offers very considerable potential, and this is partly the reason for the formation of a new Membership Committee charged with improving the engagement of the membership with the Company and its activities.

The commissioning of a full-length portrait of HRH The Prince of Wales, which hangs on the North Marble, was one of the reasons that The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, made an official visit to the Hall on 23 February 2011. Having viewed the portrait, the royal couple spent 15 minutes in the vault inspecting the Company’s collection of antique and contemporary silver and, then, met a representative sample of young individuals who have benefited from the various schemes operated by the Company. Apprentices and their Masters, Young Designer Silversmith Award winners, Goldsmiths’ Fair exhibitors and beneficiaries of the Technology & Training Department’s programme of courses were included. The visitors also made time to speak with the many members of staff who had assembled to greet them.

Finally, one of my predecessors has reminded me that this year marks the 70th anniversary of one of the more challenging times in the Company’s recent history – the Blitz. The story of how the Hall was saved through the dedication

Edward Butler

Edward Braham

Richard Fox

Dr. Charles Mackworth-Young

Jessica Fox

and bravery of members of the staff who volunteered to firewatch is sobering to read. Whilst there are remarkable tales of fortitude by the men and women involved in fighting the fires, caused by incendiary bombs or spontaneously from the heat of adjacent burning buildings, the most serious damage to the Hall occurred on the evening of 16 April 1941. On this occasion, a 250-pound high explosive bomb fell through the wall of the Beadle’s flat and destroyed the Court Dining Room (now the Exhibition Room) and most of the Drawing Room and the offices below. The Tea Room (now the Court Luncheon Room)

was damaged, as was the marble in the area of the main staircase. There was no question of rebuilding the bombed corner of the building until after the war, and, so, as much of the architectural fragments as possible were salvaged for later re-use. The reconstruction work was undertaken after the war, and it is now difficult to see, from the outside, precisely where the new construction joins the old. On the 70th anniversary of these momentous events, it is appropriate to remember how much is owed to the Hall’s heroic band of fire watchers, led by Mr A.H. Dawe (the House Carpenter).

By Eleni Bide

The library tries to look in two directions at once, keeping one eye on the past, preserving history through the records, and the other eye on the future, encouraging new research. This year, many of its new acquisitions reflected both concerns. Some 40 new books covered subjects as diverse as the York Assay Office, the history of goldsmithing in Australia and monographs on contemporary European makers. The library is particularly grateful to Rüdiger Joppien, an Associate of the Company, who gave several works on this subject and who has recently retired from the Museum für Kunst Gewerbe, Hamburg. Amongst recent publications were Tracey Hill’s Pageantry and Power , a study of the Lord Mayor’s Show and Sonia Cheadle’s Mountingand Settingstones, both of whom used the library in their research.

Additions were also made to the archives, as the library received a fascinating collection of photographs and cuttings from the nephew of the highly regarded 20th century silversmith Reginald Hill. These items augment a collection of Hill’s teaching material, given in 2009 by London Metropolitan University, and a number of his designs. The library provides a home for material which documents the work of this important generation of craftsmen and which hopefully will inspire the silversmiths of the future. Meanwhile, the existing archives continue to be maintained under the expert care of Liane Owen, the department’s paper conservator.

1959 film A Place for Gold, which shows wonderful scenes of well-known 20th century silversmiths, the retail trade, the Assay Office and the Hall. Work continues to conserve these collections and to make them accessible.

Other major projects have also spread the word about the library’s resources. Staff have worked more closely with the Assay Office to provide an increased number of introductory tours, and the combination of technical and academic expertise has proved popular with students and other visitor groups from around the world. Work on the library’s section of the Company’s new website was a significant task. The new design better highlights the depth and breadth of the library’s specialist resources, whilst a regularly updated news section provides the opportunity to showcase new research by its visitors. Finally, library staff have projects of their own, and those who have been following the department’s news updates will have noticed exciting reports from Melanie Eddy, who took a break from working at the Hall and her jewellery business to teach goldsmithing students at the Turquoise Mountain Foundation in Kabul.

During the last twelve months, the library has collaborated with London Screen Archives (LSA) to take a fresh look at the Company’s moving image collections, which contain 16mm and 35mm films, VHS tapes and DVDs. The knowledge of experts from LSA in this specialist area has proved invaluable and has led to the re-evaluation of some gems, including the

Conversation piece pencil on paper, by Reginald Hill

Reginald Hill and Will Casley of C.J.Vander working on the Ford Motor Company centrepiece Ford Motor Company

Firewatcher’s cigarette boxes, 1940, silver, designed by Leslie Durbin and made by William Comyns & Sons

By Dr Robert Organ Activity

Last year was another challenging one for hallmarking in the UK. The total number of articles hallmarked dropped in 2010 to 14.9 million (16.2 million in 2009). A continuing fall in the demand for gold articles of 16.9% between the two years was the driving force for this decrease, which was exacerbated by the very high gold price. Demand for silver fell by 1.1% over the same period, whilst platinum showed a small increase of 0.4%.

Palladium showed an encouraging increase of 136.9% in its first full year of hallmarking.

London’s performance mirrored similar trends in the UK figures. The total number of articles hallmarked by London was 2.89 million, 15% less than the previous year. Of these, 1 million were marked at the Heathrow sub-office and 140,000 at Greville Street. The latter sub-office continues to be a major success and it received a facelift recently to improve efficiencies and the work environment for staff. A new contract was signed with Brink’s to operate the Heathrow sub-office for a further three years from January 2011.

The high price of gold did, at least, bring some much needed additional income from smelting and assaying services required by companies who buy scrap gold. A new smelter was purchased to help to develop this growing business.

The Assay Office organised a number of successful events during the year. A new development was an event held exclusively for members of the Livery, which included an informative and entertaining talk on the Trial of the Pyx by Professor Robert Turner, former Queen’s Remembrancer, and tours of the Assay Office. Many other events were held for the general trade, including valuation days, hallmarking information days for retailers and manufacturers, and training seminars for Trading Standards authorities. The Assay Office played an active role in the London Jewellery Week celebrations by arranging a jewellery-based Fakes and Forgeries seminar and hallmarking workshops, and by taking a stand at the Hatton Garden Festival. A well-attended Fakes and Forgeries seminar in November concentrated on the infamous Ashley-Russell fakes case.

Several initiatives to improve customer service were introduced during the year, including improved telephone switchboard procedures, an on-line registration function and an on-line packet tracking and bill payment system. The latter two facilities were incorporated as part of the new Company-wide website. All of the Assay Office literature was rebranded in line with the new Company brand guidelines. This was a major task.

Antique Plate Committee

A total of 86 pieces were examined, of which 13 conformed to the Hallmarking Act. The remainder comprised 14 with alterations and additions, nine with transposed marks and 18 with counterfeit marks. Thirty-two pieces were outside the Committee’s jurisdiction.

Suspected Offences

A total of 17 suspected offences against the Hallmarking Act were reported to the Office by Local Authority Trading Standards Officers, albeit there were no resulting prosecutions.

Standards Committees

The UK voted against proposed revisions to EN1811 relating to Nickel Release Testing, but there was insufficient support from other countries to prevent the standard being approved. Technical Committee TC 174 was re-convened and a major review took place of many ISO standards relating to the testing of precious metal jewellery. These standards will be brought up to date to take into account the latest procedures and equipment available for testing. It is hoped that new standards using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry will be introduced later this year.

International Convention on Hallmarks and International Association of Assay Offices (IAAO)

The Hallmarking Convention is considering whether to drop the requirement to apply a fineness mark in addition to the Common Control Mark, which also contains fineness information. This was in response to the increasing complexity and smaller size of articles sent for hallmarking where space for both marks is often limited. The September 2010 Convention meeting was held in Israel, the first time it has been held outside Europe.

Assay Offices in Spain (Barcelona), Sweden and Palestine signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the IAAO. Palestine will become an Official Observer. The IAAO voted to extend the Chairmanship period from one year to three years to allow greater continuity and momentum in its administrative programmes. London was elected as Secretariat for a further three years.

several initiatives to improve customer service were introduced during the year

Changes to the Hallmarking Act

The need of the British Hallmarking Council (BHC) to be retained was included in the Government review of QuasiAutonomous Non-Governmental Organisations (QUANGOs). The Assay Office played a major role in the provision of information to the Government and, as a result, the future of the BHC remains secure. Progress on the Legislative Reform Order to permit off-shore marking was delayed as a result of the General Election, but this review is now progressing again.

Staff

Primula John-Baptise, Alex Palmer, Sylvia Dogble and Will Evans received their Freedom.

A very proud moment in the year was the successful completion of a BSc in Information Systems and Computing at Birkbeck College in the University of London by William Evans. Less successful was his attempt to grow a moustache. NOTE

The Assay Office at Goldsmiths’ Fair (above), at the summer Hatton Garden Festival (right), and at seminars on jewellery fakes and forgeries (bottom right)

Julia Skupny

London Jewellery Week

Julia Skupny

The Ashley-Russell seminar

Alison Byne

By Nick Harland

This year, the Education Committee conducted a review of its educational grants’ programme. This was a stock-take of what the Committee is already doing and it looked at other proactive projects to undertake within the annual budget of £320,000.

The scheme of Grants for Teachers continues and, this year, ten awards were made. These range over a wide area. One group of head teachers will visit two US cities to research how school clusters work together (for application in a London context). A politics teacher will serve an internship with a US Senator and a Congresswoman and a profoundly deaf teacher will attend the World Federation for the Deaf conference in South Africa. Other successful proposals include a study of inter-generational arts programmes, an outdoor learning project and the trialling of a programme for teachers of autistic children. Five Science for Society courses for secondary school teachers were held at universities last summer. A new course, on Sustainable Energy, will be run at Bath University this summer. Support for medical and musical bursars is an enduring feature of the Committee’s grant making.

The Committee has been keen to link some existing initiatives to try to make each more effective. To this end, support for the National Theatre’s Primary Classics programme found its way into 20 London primary schools, two of which are involved in the Company’s literacy programme. The resulting performances of the newly commissioned Greek Myths plays were very enthusiastically received in both schools, each

support for the National theatre’s Primary Classics programme found its way into twenty london primary schools

involving the drama teachers and four classes. An ongoing relationship since 1987 with the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) has been reinvigorated with a new programme called From the Field. A £5,000 grant is now funding five bursaries for geography teachers to link with and, to follow, RGS sponsored field expeditions to create teaching resources for their schools and others.

A new grant of £20,000 to Goldsmiths (College) to fund four bursaries a year for five years for UK postgraduate students attracted a further £10,000 in matched funding from the Government’s Matched Giving Scheme. Science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) are of much interest to the Company, which has recently become involved with two organisations that promote these disciplines – the British Science Association and Engineering UK. A grant of £10,000 was made to the former to fund a project officer to promote its flagship programme CreativityinScienceandTechnology in London primary schools. To the latter, a further £5,000 was given to support its running of The Big Bang fair held in March at the Excel Centre to promote the study of STEM subjects by school children. This three-day event, the culmination of a year of related activities and competitions, was highly engaging and 30,000 children attended. Annually, this reaches more than 100,000 children.

Finally, the Committee continues to look out for more projects which might arise from the Government’s ongoing educational reforms.

By Harriet Erskine

The economic climate has again taken its toll on the Charity Committee’s budget and, as part of a wider review, this now stands at £800,000.

Continuing the Company’s long tradition of support for the Community Foundations, Sussex and Northamptonshire were chosen this year and will receive £50,000 each for two years. The Company was also delighted to host the annual awards for philanthropy organised by the Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust, in association with the Community Foundation Network. This is a nationally recognised prize scheme through which the charity sector can acknowledge and reward exceptional philanthropic acts. Amongst the award winners were Dr James Partridge of Changing Faces (Leadership) and Robert Wilson, the founder of READ International (Young Philanthropist) –both charities supported this year by the Charity Committee.

A number of years ago, the Charity Committee used to consider applications on behalf of individual ‘poor Londoners’, one of the principal objects of the Charity. This became increasingly time-consuming and, so, organisations were sought out to distribute such funds on the Company’s behalf.

School-Home Support (SHS) is one such organisation, which receives an annual grant of £15,000. Its purpose is to identify problems at home that children might have which detract from their performance at school. SHS then works with the school and the family to provide quick, practical solutions for which access to its welfare fund is an invaluable tool. Similarly, Glasspool Charitable Trust distributes £15,000 a year, on the Charity Committee’s behalf, to poor Londoners in need. Glasspool makes small, one-off grants averaging £230 to individuals for basic needs, such as beds and cookers. Last year, it received 7,600 applications and made 3,400 grants,

totalling £860,000. Government funds to alleviate hardship focus on debt advice, staffing support for vulnerable people and local community projects – Glasspool aims to fill the crucial gaps. Lastly, in this particular category, a third grant of £25,000 to Lambeth Adult and Community Services was made to benefit vulnerable residents.

London Youth is an organisation long supported by the Charity. This is a network of 400 youth clubs in the capital serving 75,000 young people. Woodrow High House, which the Company gifted in 1946, runs residential courses throughout the year, but is now in need of considerable refurbishment and the Charity has made a grant towards this of £20,000. Something of a first this year was the hosting at the Hall of a meeting of the Great XII Charity Administrators. Much was learnt on all sides about grant-making policies, the diverse challenges and the involvement of liverymen in the charitable work of the Companies. This was a valuable exercise which, hopefully, will be repeated annually.

The Wardens made a number of additional grants once again this year, the most significant of which was a grant of £173,200 to Cambridge University towards the fitting-out of the new building for the Department of Materials Science & Metallurgy, which has been supported since 1908. In addition to this, the Wardens have permitted the use of the Hall and rooms on 30 occasions for charitable fund-raising events and support to the trade.

Primary school children enjoying the National Theatre production of Six Seeds and Douglas Anderson (Grants for Teachers)

Martin Lewis, CBE, host of the Beacon Philanthropy Awards ceremony held at Goldsmiths’ Hall, with Mary and Keith Woodward, winners of the Community Builder prize, and Nick Harland

‘Getting Reading Weekend’ run by London Youth at Woodrow High House

By Paul Dyson

Another terrifically busy year has passed by for the Promotion Department team. Following the Company rebranding, as reported last year, the Assay Office has now successfully been incorporated within the brand architecture. The final piece of the jigsaw will be the Goldsmiths’ Centre, which is ready to be fitted in as the opening approaches. This represents the culmination of 18 months’ work. Special thanks are due to Paul Waller, who has diligently worked through all the minutiae of each department’s requirements.

London Jewellery Week was an important event in last year’s calendar, as different sections of the trade pulled together to increase the profile of the London jewellery trade. The Company held a series of events at the Hall, including a Hallmarking Workshop (7 June), a Salon Privé show of fashion and jewellery (8 June) and a Day of Knowledge (10 June) hosted by Joanna Hardy which included talks by Leo de Vroomen and Shaun Leane. Plans are in hand to make a larger and better London Jewellery Week this year.

A very exciting milestone was passed this year! The Who’s Who in Gold and Silver website of craftsmen has grown from a launch of 101 subscribers to an impressive 300. This is due to the continued hard work of its editor, Tom Bowtell, who works three days a week to keep the site accurate, vibrant and relevant to trade, museums, purchasers and, not least, the craftsmen. Our only exhibition this year has been Jacqueline Mina –DialoguesinGold, which was focused on Mina’s subtle work. It drew together some 150 pieces to illustrate her very specific style. Amanda Game (Liveryman) kindly worked closely with the artist to curate the exhibition, which was very well received by the public and with very high attendance figures throughout.

By Peter Taylor

What an interesting, challenging and productive year this has been for the Technology & Training department.

Within the past twelve months, the department has seen the new contractor, Balfour Beatty, start work on the Goldsmiths’ Centre in Clerkenwell, has played a fundamental role in the redevelopment of the National Occupational Standards for Jewellery, Silversmithing and Allied Trades (which should provide the opportunity for funded apprenticeships across the industry in the future) and has continued to deliver the range of other activities which form much of the Company’s support for the craft and industry.

the first apprentices in the Goldsmiths’ Company’s history achieved City & Guilds licentiateships

Competition, securing a number of top prizes in their relevant disciplines. The department is immensely proud of the apprenticeship scheme and the young people who benefit from it. It seems that its quality has not gone unnoticed in Government circles either, with the Minister responsible for apprenticeships, Mr John Hayes, using the Company’s work with young people as an exemplar of sustainable industry-led training. As the Goldsmiths’ Centre and Institute come on stream, in October 2011, there will be a dramatic increase in the Company’s ability to support young people as they begin to pursue careers within the craft and industry, which represents an exciting opportunity for all concerned.

The apprenticeship scheme, and the other activities of the department, would not be possible without the hard work and dedication of those who work in the background to make them happen. So the department’s special thanks go to consultants Robin Kyte and Barry Moss, who work on the apprentice programme, and to Mark Grimwade and Dr Chris Corti, who provide metallurgical services and also contribute in a major way to the production of the Technical Journal

The Goldsmiths’ Fair enjoyed a 9% increase in sales and 300 more visitors, an impressive growth in the present economic circumstances in which the fair operates. It is always a pleasure to see so many visitors come to support the exhibitors, regardless of whether or not they buy. Their comments, feedback and review of the work on show are much appreciated. I, personally, received favourable comments on the creativity of the silversmiths from many visitors who were new to the fair. Over 1,800 new contact details were added to the database, giving a high return for all the hard work of the marketing team.

Sally Dodson, our Promotion Administrator, has been headhunted by The Heritage Crafts Association. Her accuracy and knowledge will be much missed. Joanne Dodd, from Contemporary Applied Arts, has taken over and is most welcome. She brings with her a wealth of contacts, knowledge and interests, which will be of great benefit to the department.

the Goldsmiths’ Fair enjoyed a 9% increase in sales and 300 more visitors

Included in this activity has been the launch of a new bursary scheme in support of a graduate applying to the Royal College of Art. The chosen recipient, Jennifer Gray, presented an amazing portfolio of work which has the potential to be developed over her time on the course. The department will follow her progress with great interest over the next two years.

The regular Undergraduate Summer School goes from strength to strength with 20 second-year students joining a programme led by Stuart Devlin which included sessions with industry professionals as well as workshop visits. In the same vein, two pilot Postgraduate Professional Design Programmes were also run during the year. Each involved six graduates in an intensive week-long programme that concentrated on creativity and design development, including visits to major manufacturing companies, access to computer-aided design and networking dinners that brought together some of the biggest industry players and these new starters.

Excitingly, the first apprentices in the Goldsmiths’ Company’s history to achieve City & Guilds Licentiateships received their certificates from the Prime Warden. With more in the pipeline, this will become a regular event alongside the Freedom Ceremonies, which are held as the apprentices come out of their time. The Company’s sponsored apprentices also did well at the annual Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council

The Technical Journal went through a major facelift at the end of 2010 as a result of feedback from its readership. This process was expertly managed under the editorship of Karin Paynter, who also led on the production of the latest DVD (flat-hammering) in the series of training videos with the help of Christopher Lawrence.

The department is fortunate to have so many friends within the industry who are willing to give up their time to pass on their skills to current and future generations of craftspeople. Momentous changes will happen as a result of the Goldsmiths’ Centre going live in the coming October – and there will be much to recount next year!

Display at JacquelineMina–DialoguesinGold

Julia Skupny

Jeweller Ingo Henn at Goldsmiths’ Fair 2010 Adrian Brooks

Delegates and industry guests (above and below) at GettingStarted 2011

Julia Skupny

A new audience is witnessing exceptional creative modern silver today, often for the first time

By Rosemary Ransome Wallis

Last summer, in just six weeks, the 2010 Young Designer Silversmith Award winner, Ben Ryan, a postgraduate student at Bishopsland, completed his outstanding winning , in the Kent workshop of Padgham & Putland. Ben hand-raised, sank and planished the silver from one of the largest sheets of metal ever handled in the workshop, measuring 750mm x 380mm with a thickness of 1.3mm, earning much praise from Carl Padgham for his achievement. The magnificent dish was presented to the National Museum Wales on 25 November 2010 by the Prime Warden for its permanent collection. The dish was then lent by the museum, as part of its Artshare, Wales , the spring exhibition of innovative contemporary silver held at Ruthin Craft Centre in North Wales. It was briefly borrowed back by the Company when it joined Ben, and several past Young Designer Silversmith Award winners, as part of the Company presentation to HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall on their visit to the Hall on 23 February 2011. The royal couple requested a visit to see the collection in the strongroom and were much impressed by the work of contemporary craftsmen. Prince Charles’s love of horticulture was evident in his admiration of Theresa Nguyen’s Parissa, purchased in 2010, which was inspired by the leaf forms of the Camellia Japonica. Theresa was only 19 years old when she won the Young Designer Silversmith Award in 2005. This year, from March to October, Theresa is a Company ambassador in her role as silversmith in residence in the magnificent setting of Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, owned by the National Trust. A demonstration of her skills and a selection of her work form the second in a series of the Studio Silver Today exhibitions in National Trust properties. This series enables the public for the first time to engage more fully with the silversmiths of the past through witnessing living artist craftsmen at work. Describing Theresa as a ‘highly sophisticated

contemporary’, Country Life magazine stated that Studio Silver Today at Kedleston, as an exhibition, was ‘likely to prove popular’, which indeed it is.

During 2010, the Company made a number of purchases from contemporary craft fairs. From Collect, the Company bought the Anamorphic brooch by Kamilla Ruberg. Made of laser-welded, hand-drawn 18ct gold wire, the brooch is composed of three units inspired by Islamic geometric patterns. From Origin the jewellery work of Jane Adam was purchased, her first representation in the collection. Other acquisitions from Origin show new directions taken by studio silversmiths such as Adrian Hope in his Snowcord vase and Angela Cork in her pair of ‘blown’ rectangular vases, with burnished matt finish, where she uses minimalist and geometric forms to evoke a subtle graphic quality in a 3D form. From Goldsmiths’ Fair, the Company purchased the huge hand-raised Moon vase (2010) from William Lee.

The delightful and original Tip Oil drizzler , by Adi Toch, was bought to add to two commissions from her earlier in the year – the Pinch of Salt bowl and the Red Sand vessel. A proficient silversmith, Adi’s sculptural background means that her vessels are very tactile, inviting one to handle them and to explore their unexpected uses. A seven-place cutlery set, with characteristic fold-formed decoration, by Rauni Higson (an exhibitor in the 2010 Fair), is the first contemporary cutlery to be acquired for the collection in this century. Commissions were placed with two silversmiths in 2010. Shannon O’Neill was asked to produce a silver version of her Finvase, resulting in a beautiful example of an electroformed model. Esther Lord was given the opportunity to extend her handscoring, folding and raising skills, using a single sheet of silver, to make her two Tilting vessels with subtle curvatures. Architecturally lyrical, visually, the larger vessel won the Silver Award in the Silversmiths’ Section for exceptional technical and craft skill in the 2011 Craft and Design Council Awards.

On 27 January 2011, at the reception at the Hall in memory of Graham Hughes, former Art Director from 1951 to 1980, a small exhibition of jewellery and silver commissioned by Graham between 1961 and 1980 was displayed. Early work by Jacqueline Mina and Wendy Ramshaw was included in the selection. These exceptional artist jewellers continue to be creatively innovative. Last year, the Company acquired the 18ct gold cuff bracelet, with strip-twist sections, from Jacqueline Mina, which was subsequently shown in her one-man show DialoguesinGold at the Hall. Wendy Ramshaw was commissioned to make a large 18ct gold brooch, based on her work Drawings in Gold. The Company’s brooch, Song2010, shows Wendy to be the leading modernist jeweller of our time. Computer technology defines our age, but this technology has been put to exceptional artistic use by the jeweller Jo Hayes-Ward in her creation of the Company’s masterpiece, her Random Master brooch. Cast in aluminium and 18ct gold from a rapid prototyped wax, the brooch’s crisp cube structure reflects

its digital production but, visually, it floats, catching in motion light which gives it an overall effect of an organic aesthetic. Embodying feelings of belonging and security, the charming silver Shelter medal by Marian Fountain was commissioned following its showing in bronze at the 2010 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. The Prime Warden’s Portrait Medal of Professor Richard Himsworth, by Philip Nathan, was also added to the art medal collection last year. Professor Himsworth is Chairman of the Modern Collections Committee, which oversees my role as curator of the contemporary collections. The Committee can be justly proud of the pieces it has approved for the collection this year. All show the incredible creative vitality of artist silversmiths and jewellers working today.

Song 2010 gold, by Wendy Ramshaw

Professor Himsworth’s Prime Warden’s medal, 2010, silver, by Philip Nathan

Tilting vessel, 2010, silver, by Esther Lord Images: Clarissa Bruce

By Nick Harland

A good deal has happened on the membership front... [including] the inauguration of a membership Committee and the renewing and re-launch of our website

A good deal has happened on the membership front over the last year, the two principal elements being the inauguration of a Membership Committee as well as the renewing and re-launch of our website, with a newly created membership section which is available to all Assistants, Liverymen and Freemen.

Both of these initiatives have been designed to answer the need, felt by many members, that the Company should understand its membership better and engage with it more effectively. The nature of the Company’s membership makes it rather different from other livery companies. The Company has maintained one of the largest Freedoms in the City in recognition of the valued contribution of the many trade members, providing a ‘home’ for as many of the trade as can reasonably be accommodated. At present, therefore, there are 1,395 Freemen on the register and to maintain contact with all of them is an administrative challenge. Of these Freemen, 57% are trade and 25% are female. On average, 25 Freemen are added to the complement every year and are split between the trade and non-trade categories with three means of entry: Redemption (purchase), Service (apprenticeship) and Special Grant. In the last year, we have added 39 new Freemen, 28 of whom are connected with the trade.

An additional element of the membership community is the Associate Member. This category was initially created to honour eminent foreigners who had contributed to the work of the Company and who had no other means of being recognised. Last year, however, this privilege was

extended to UK members of the trade who have rendered similar service and who had missed the opportunity to join the Company due to age or, for whatever reason, had been overlooked. This year, we welcomed Brian Marshall, and Pope and Oliver Makower.

With a Livery of 275, opportunities to move up from the Freedom are necessarily limited and one of the purposes of the Membership Committee is to learn more about the membership, so that the most appropriate candidates can be put forward to the Court of Assistants for election to the Livery. However, it also means that there is a need to do more with the Freedom as a whole.

So what will the Membership Committee do? Its aim is to be the main vehicle by which membership issues are addressed, some of these are immediately apparent but others will present themselves over time. The Committee comprises: three Assistants – Timothy Schroder (Chairman), Martin Drury and Edward Braham, and eight liverymen –Dido Harding, Ros Savill, Bill Edgerley, Julia Clarke, Jan Springer, Tom Fattorini, Stephen Webster and Guy Himsworth. As Deputy Clerk, I am the Secretary and Jake Emmett will assist me. The Committee will be responsible for advising, and receiving instruction from, the Court of Wardens. The matters to be considered will be selection to the Freedom and Livery, the future structure of the membership (e.g. the age profile and skill sets required by the Company) and the consideration of activities which promote a two-way engagement between the Company and its members. It is anticipated that it is in this latter area

that there may be scope for some innovative ways of improving the range of current events with the aim of encouraging greater participation amongst the membership. The views of members will be sought and their ideas entertained, although every idea will need a sponsor. To plagiarise a well-known quotation, members will be asked to “think not what the Company can do for you…”.

A major and time-consuming project over the last year has been the complete re-working of the website in order to bring all of the activities of the Company under the new branding and to give better and improved functionality to all the users. With more than 36,000 entries on the database of those interested in the Goldsmiths’ Company, this clearly represents more than the membership. However, new to this website is a ‘members only’ area, which has been designed to give the Company a means of communicating with each member on a more frequent basis than is possible at present. It is early days (only 20% have so far signed up), but I would urge you to become involved by taking the first step and adding your email address to the database.

The aim of this part of the website is to allow members to keep their personal details up to date (a perennial problem) and to be alerted to all of the Company’s activities in which they may wish to participate. These activities are posted within the events ‘spotlight’ and topical news items are listed in a similar way. Filling the invitations to livery sporting opportunities is a regular challenge for the staff and, if any of these appeal to individuals, there will be instructions as to the steps to be taken to catch the ‘selector’s eye’. News of the results of sporting events is promulgated here, although it is not for nothing that, on occasion, it is best that these are protected behind a password! For those who are committee members, it is here that minutes and calling notices can be found, along with the ability to confirm attendance at committee lunches. I am also running a ‘blog’ to bring the latest snippets to readers’ attention and I would welcome feedback. This website is still being developed and, over time, it is intended to use it as a primary means of communicating with members who are able to access this form of media. One of the ideas, still being worked on, is an electronic means of ‘posting’ invitations to events, which will not only speed up the process but will also cut down on the mass mailings, thereby reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

one of the ideas, still being worked on, is an electronic means of ‘posting’ invitations to events

It is hoped that members will embrace this new method enthusiastically! It is clear in which direction the tide is running and, for those who have signed up to receive communications by email, this will be the method of choice by the Company in future, backed up by the membership website. It should be emphasised, however, that, for those not of a digital persuasion, the normal means of disseminating information will still remain, but migrating to an electronic format will be like putting a first-class stamp on the letter!

Members of the Court of Assistants

Mr A.M.J. Galsworthy, C.V.O., C.B.E., D.L. Prime Warden until 18May2011

Mr H.J. Miller

Prime Warden from 18May2011

The Lord Sutherland of Houndwood, K.T., F.B.A., F.R.S.E.

Mr R.D. Agutter

Mr W.H.M. Parente Wardenfrom18May2011

Sir Anthony Touche, Bt.

Mr C.R.C. Aston, T.D.

Sir Hugo HuntingtonWhiteley, Bt., D.L.

Mr S.A. Shepherd

Mr A.M. Stirling

The Lord Tombs of Brailes

Sir Paul Girolami

The Lord Cunliffe

Mr R.F.H. Vanderpump

Mr B.L. Schroder

Mr R.P.T. Came

H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, K.G. (HonoraryAssistant)

Mr D.A.E.R. Peake

Mr B.E. Toye

Mr M. Dru Drury, C.B.E., F.S.A.

Sir Jerry Wiggin, T.D.

Professor R.L. Himsworth

Mr G.G. Macdonald

Mr T.B. Schroder, F.S.A.

Dame Lynne Brindley, D.B.E.

Sir John Rose

Mr M.J. Wainwright

The Hon. Mark Bridges

Brigadier E.A. Butler

Mr E.C. Braham

Dr C.G. Mackworth-Young

Mr R.N. Fox

The Livery

The following deaths were reported during the year preceded by the year of admission:

1970

Richard Martin Chatterley

1962

Thomas Robert Copeland

1986

Christopher Waithman

Gabriel

1978

David John Scotchburn Guilford

1956

Sir Simon Hornby

1947

George Graham McKenny Hughes

2002

Raymond Henry Wilkins

The following Freeman was elected to the Livery and duly clothed during the year.

Mrs Flora Robinson Neame

Associate Members

The following have been enrolled as an Associate of the Goldsmiths’ Company honoris causa:

Miss S. Dorph-Jensen

Mr B.R. Marshall

Mr O.J. Makower

Mrs P.A. Makower

New Freemen May 2009 to May 2010

By special grant

Nancy Lydia Bedford

AssistantClerk’Secretary, TheGoldsmiths’Company

Dawn Grant Assistant, The Goldsmiths’ CompanyAssayOffice

Teresa Hassett

Office Assistant, The Goldsmiths’Company

Primula John-Baptiste

Assistant, The Goldsmiths’ CompanyAssayOffice

George Grant Macdonald

Designer&Director,Grant

Macdonald Silversmiths

Alex Michael Palmer

Assistant, The Goldsmiths’ CompanyAssayOffice

Maureen Peter

Accounts Assistant, TheGoldsmiths’Company AssayOffice

James Patrick Philbin

Maintenance Assistant, TheGoldsmiths’Company

By redemption

Duncan Baird-Murray Engraver

Elizabeth Faith Currer Buchanan Public Relations consultant

Paul Anthony

Chatterton Carter

ManagingDirector, RitzFineJewellery

Mark Christmas

Diamond setter

Joanna Jane Clark

Retail Director, Orient-ExpressHotels

Geoffrey Joel Crossick

Warden,Goldsmiths’College

Barrie Stephen Dobson Chairman, British Jewellers’ Association

Ndidi Rachel Ekubia Silversmith

Geoffrey Allan Field

Chief Executive Officer, British Jewellers’ Association

Kevin Mark Gregson Goldsmith

Julie Ann Griffin

Diamond merchant

Gareth Connor

Dawson Harris

Goldsmith

Jessica Diana Mary Heathcoat Amory

Televisionproduction executive

Rauni Ann Lucy Higson

Designersilversmith

Michael John Hoare

Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Goldsmiths

Jason Bruno Acker Holt

Director,HoltsAcademy ofJewellery

Christopher John Jewitt

Chairman, Guardians of the SheffieldAssayOffice

Jonathan Lambert

Retailjeweller

Andrew Stephen

John Lammas

Goldsmith

Russell James Lord Jeweller

Corin Mellor

Designer

Alexander John Monroe Jeweller

Malcolm Pullan

FormerSecretaryof The Silversmiths and JewellersCharity

By service

Michael Thompson Son of Mark Roger Thompson and late apprentice of Stanley Victor Somerford (SVS DesignsLtd)

Elizabeth Mary Whyte Daughter of Robert Kenneth Whyte and late apprentice of Christopher James Vinten (C.J.Vinten,Goldsmiths)

New Freemen May 2010 to May 2011

By special grant

Anthony Oswald Bowen Hallkeeper,TheGoldsmiths’ Company

Sylvia Dogble Assistant, The Goldsmiths’ CompanyAssayOffice

William Albert James Evans

SystemsDevelopment Manager,TheGoldsmiths’ CompanyAssayOffice

Flora Robinson Neame Personal Assistant

By redemption

Katherine Mary Clare Alexander Chairman,Birmingham AssayOffice

Victoria Kate Ambery-Smith Jewellerydesigner

Nicola Anne Bancroft

Designer

Ane Krag Christensen Silversmith

James Francis Deakin Gemmologist&

manufacturingjeweller

Gregory Thomas Bühler Fattorini

Manufacturingjeweller

Alexander Robert Fellowes

Privateequitybanker

Victoria Grace Ford

MEP

Harry Adrian Forster-Stringer Goldsmith

Penelope Julia Louise Francis Solicitor

Brian Alfred Gresley Polisher

Evelyn Heathcoat Amory Artspecialist

Richard John HopkinsonWoolley

Solicitor

Steven Charles Jinks Mounter

Junko Mori

Silversmith

Elizabeth Ann Chen Olver

Designer

Shannon Cara O’Neill

DesignerSilversmith

Louise Jane Pragnell

Portrait Painter

Natalia Dawn Rawley

Jeweller

Justin John Roberts

JewellerySpecialist

James Michael Rainshaw

Rothwell

Curator

Samuel Peter Sherry Mounter

Barbara Anne Snoad

Retail Consultant

Neill Patrick Swan

MarketingManager,Johnson MattheyLtd

Sheila Elizabeth Teague

Designer

Fiona Ann Toye CompanyDirector

Lorna Janet Watson

Designer

Justin Mark Wilson Mounter

By patrimony

Louise Angela Joan Asprey

DaughterofKennethFrancis

EdwardAsprey,aLiveryman

By service

Robert Alexander Blair

Son of Janine Blair and late apprenticeofRobertAylett (RobertGlenn)

Adam John Claridge

SonofNancyClaridgeand lateapprenticeofKieth EdwinIngram(Spectrum FineJewellery)

Andrew Mark Mason

SonofJeffreyJohnMason andlateapprenticeofJeffrey JohnFrancis(Wakely& Wheeler)

Ryan Lewis Nelson

Son of Michelle Nelson and lateapprenticeofDavis

HenryJohnLawes

Daryl Charles Parks

SonofAnthonyDavidParks andlateapprenticeof Ian Read

James Stanley

SonofDavidAnthonyStanley andlateapprenticeof EleanorBatho(CATrebble)

Assay Office

Management

Sir Jerry Wiggin (Chairman)

Mr G.G. Macdonald

Mr R.D. Agutter

Mr R.G.H. Crofts

Mr R.E. Southall

Mr M.R. Winwood

Antique Plate

Mr R.P.T. Came (Chairman)

Mr R.F.H. Vanderpump

Mr N.V. Bassant

Mr A.J. Butcher

Mr P. Cameron

Mr D.E. Cawte

Mr A.J. Dickenson

Mrs K. Jones

Mrs L.M. Morton

Mr A.M. Phillips

Mr H. Willis

Goldsmiths’ Review Board

Mr A.M.J. Galsworthy

Mr H.J. Miller

Mr R.G. Melly

Mr N.G. Harland

Mr D.A. Beasley (Editor)

Miss E.R. Bide (Assistant Editor)

House

Sir Jerry Wiggin (Chairman)

Mr R.P.T. Came

Mr M.D. Drury

Mrs N. Buchanan-Dunlop

Mr W.N.N. Diggle

The Hon. Joanna Gardner

Mr M.S. Soames

Mr R.W.G. Threlfall

Charity

Mr D.A.E.R. Peake (Chairman)

Mr S.A. Shepherd

The Hon. Mark Bridges

Dr C.G. Mackworth-Young

Mr W.K. Benbow

Miss V.R. Broackes

Mrs S.C. Hamilton

Mr R. O’Hora

The Revd Prebendary David Paton

Mr J.R. Polk

Mr W.G. Touche

Education

The Lord Sutherland of Houndwood (Chairman)

Dame Lynne Brindley

Mr W.K. Benbow

Miss C.V. Copeland

Miss H.S.E. Courtauld

Mr R.A. Kelly

Professor J.E. King

Dr V.V. Lawrence

Miss J.A. Lowe

Mr A.C. Peake

Mr R.A. Reddaway

The Hon. Mrs. Margaret Sanders

Mr R.G. Straker

Collection and Library

Mr R.F.H. Vanderpump (Chairman)

Sir Jerry Wiggin

Professor R.L. Himsworth

Mr T.B. Schroder

Mr C. English

Dr K. Jensen

Mr R.W.G. Threlfall

Mr C.H. Truman

Mr A.E. Turner

Promotion

Mr T.B. Schroder (Chairman)

Dame Lynne Brindley

Mr M.J. Wainwright

Miss J.L. Clarke

Mr C. Mellor

Mr J. Ronayne

Mr N. Semmens

Miss M.A. Simmons

Miss J.B. Springer

Miss A. Stapleton

Investment

Mr R.N. Hambro (Chairman)

Mr W.H.M. Parente

Sir John Rose

Mr U.D. Barnett

Mr N.A.P. Carson

Mr W. Hill

Sir Stuart Lipton

Mr R.R. Madeley

Technology and Training

Mr. S.A. Shepherd (Chairman)

Mr B.E. Toye

Mr G.G. Macdonald

Mr R.N. Fox

Professor J.B. Dainton

Mr T.R.B. Fattorini

Mr D.A. Marshall

Professor W.M. Steen

Professor G.C. Whiles

Membership

Mr. T.B. Schroder (Chairman)

Mr M.D. Drury

Mr E.C. Braham

Miss. J.L. Clarke

Mr W.T. Edgerley

Mr T.R.B. Fattorini

The Hon. D.M. Harding

Mr G.A. Himsworth

Dame Rosalind Savill

Miss J.B. Springer

Mr S. Webster

Modern

Professor R.L. Himsworth (Chairman)

Mr M.D. Drury

Mr C.E. Burr

Miss C. de Syllas

Mrs J.A. Game

Miss O.D. Krinos

Mr D.J. Prideaux

Ms D. Solowiej

Mr H.M. Wyndham

May 2010/2011

New Designers

Michelle Clare (Sheffield Hallam University) and Elizabeth Humble (Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design) were awarded the jewellery and silversmithing prizes. Both winners received cheques of £1,000, precious metal bursary awards of £500, places on ‘Getting started’, a ten-year registration for their sponsor’s mark, a free sponsor’s mark and £200 of credit towards hallmarking charges.

Summer School

Eighteen second year students took part in the summer school (26 – 30 July 2010) under the direction of Dr Stuart Devlin and Peter Taylor.

Goldsmiths’ Fair

The annual fair (27 September – 10 October 2010) was visited by 11,000 people. Turnover on sales and orders was £3.3m – an increase of £¼ m. Ninety exhibitors were on show for

each of the two weeks which included five free stands per week for first-timers.

Young Designer Silversmith Award 2010

Ben Ryan spent six weeks at the workshop of Carl Padgham and Andrew Putland in the summer of 2010. His finished piece was presented to the National Museum of Wales on 25 November 2010.

Getting Started

Thirty-seven delegates attended the course, which ran from 17 – 21 January 2011. A formal reception was held on 20 January.

Jacqueline Mina: Dialogues in Gold

The exhibition, shown in the Main Staircase Hall, ran from 31 January – 26 February and attracted over 2,000 visitors.

Trial of the Pyx

The Trial took place on 8 February, when 59,039 coins

(of which 1,129 were of gold or silver) were submitted.

A successful Verdict was delivered on 6 May attended by the Master of the Mint, the Rt. Hon. George Osborne.

Young Designer Silversmith Award 2011

Judging of the 27 entries submitted for the Award took place at Goldsmiths’ Hall on 16 February. Shaun Grace, a third-year student at the University for the Creative Arts at Rochester, was the winner.

Royal visit

On 23 February HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH The Duchess of Cornwall visited Goldsmiths’ Hall. This is reported in greater detail on pp.24–25.

Studio Silver Today

The exhibition in collaboration with the National Trust, opened at Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire, on 5 March and runs until 29 October. On

Statistics for the Goldsmiths’ Company Assay Office January-December 2010

Saturdays throughout this time Theresa Nguyen will be the artist in residence demonstrating her craft.

Goldsmiths’ Centre –Topping Out ceremony

On 15 March the Prime Warden laid the last part of cement on the top floor of the Goldsmiths’ Centre in Clerkenwell. The details of this ongoing project are highlighted on pp.34–37.

The Corieltavi silver bowl: 2000 years old

An exhibition relating to the bowl was shown in the foyer of the Main Staircase Hall from 3 May – 15 July. The bowl, with coins from the find, has been loaned by the Harborough Museum in Leicestershire and is accompanied by a modern copy made by Alex Brogden.

3 May–16 July

Foyer exhibition: The Corieltavi Bowl: 2000 Years Old

27 May–16 July

Summer exhibition: Mindful of Silver

24 June

Luncheon Club

27 September–3 October

5–10 October

Goldsmiths’ Fair

17 October

Open Day tours of the Hall 27 October Freemen’s evening reception 3 November Freemen’s

9 January

Open Day tours of the Hall 7 February

Trial of the Pyx: Opening Proceedings

13 February

Open Day tours of the Hall

6–9 March

Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council: Exhibition

12 March

Open Day tours of the Hall

30 March

Luncheon Club

4 May

Trial of the Pyx: Delivery of the Verdicts

Principal Officers

Clerk

Mr. R.G. Melly

Deputy Warden

Dr. R.M. Organ

Director of Finance

Mrs. S. Bailey

Deputy Clerk

Mr. N.J. Harland

Librarian

Mr. D.A. Beasley

Director, Promotion

Mr. P.C. Dyson

Charity Administrator

Miss. H.A. Erskine

Superintendent Assayer

Mr. J.B. Love

Hallkeeper

Mr. R.T. McCrow

Personnel Manager

Mr. C.L. Painter

Curator

Miss. R.W. Ransome Wallis

Press Officer

Miss. A. Stücklin

Director, Technology & Training

Mr. P.J. Taylor

Principal Advisers

Consultant Architect

Mr. R.S. Melville

Property Solicitor

Mrs. S.C. Hamilton

Surveyor

Mr. M.K. Ridley