Learn/ A Focus on Contemporary Studio Silver/ 17 May 2010
General Information
The Goldsmiths’ Company is the country’s leading patron of modern silver design. As a City Livery Company it has, during the 20th and 21st century, acquired an inspirational collection of innovative and well-crafted silver commissioned or purchased from individual artist and designer craftsmen.
Rosemary Ransome Wallis, author of “Treasures of the 20th Century” and “Treasures of Today – Silver 1980-2008” is considered an expert in the field of modern silver and has directed and curated more than 20 major exhibitions for the Goldsmiths Company both in the UK and abroad. As well as acting as adviser to institutions such The Silver Trust for No 10 Downing Street, and the 20th century Silver Vetting Committee, Olympia Fine Art Fair, she advises private patrons who wish to undertake commissions from contemporary craftsmen working in silver and gold.
Rod Kelly – one of Britain’s leading artist silversmiths, Rod Kelly specialises in low relief-hand chasing, interweaving narrative images related to the specific commission. With work represented in national collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, his major commissions include pieces for the Silver Trust for 10 Downing Street, St Paul’s Cathedral and Lucy Cavendish College Cambridge for example.
Jane Short – a celebrated artist enameller, Jane Short won the Jacques Cartier Memorial Award in 2008 for outstanding craftsmanship. She combines the techniques of engraving and champlevé and basse-taille enamel to produce rich painterly images. With work represented in national collections such as the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, examples of her major commissions include pieces for the Millennium Bridge opening, the Silver Trust for 10 Downing Street and the John Keatley Trust.
Hiroshi Suzuki – acclaimed Japanese silversmith, who works partly in England, Hiroshi Suzuki specialises in hammering to create vessels which intuitively reflect fluidity found in natural forms. With work represented in national collections such as the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge as well as in museums in Europe and the USA, all Suzukis’s commissions are handled by his agent Adrian Sassoon on of the UK’s leading dealers in contemporary applied arts.
