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DESIGNER BRITISH SILVER from studios established 1930-1985
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Chailey Lambert When British Airways wanted suggestions for a suitable wedding gift to present to Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson in 1986, they consulted Chailey as he had recently received a loan from The Prince’s Trust (i.e. the Prince of Wales’ Trust) which allowed him to expand his fledging business. Noting that Sarah wanted to be a working royal and her coat-of-arms included a bee, he suggested a honey pot based on a conventional straw hive. It is designed to take a standard pint pot that contains about 11⁄2 pounds of honey. Sir David Kirch, the wealthy Jersey businessman commissioned another that differed slightly from the Royal couple’s example. Made from Britannia as opposed to sterling silver, there is no bee on the spoon’s terminal. In recent years Sir David has been selling his collections and donating the funds to his charitable trust. The Collection secured the honey pot in 2011 for £5,000. Height 14.5cm. London 1987.
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DESIGNER BRITISH SILVER from studios established 1930-1985
John Andrew and
Derek Styles
ANTIQUE COLLECTORS’ CLUB
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Dedicated to the memory of Graham Hughes
©2015 John Andrew
World copyright reserved
ISBN 978 1 85149 780 5
The rights of John Andrew to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Front endpaper: The Exhibition of Modern Silverwork at Goldsmiths’ Hall in 1938. This was the first event dedicated to contemporary designer British silver at the Goldsmiths’ Company – see page 14. Back endpaper: The makers’ marks, or signatures, of the 50 leading Britishdesigner silversmiths covered in this volume. They are arranged alphabetically by surname. See pages 57 – 501 for the chapters on the smiths’ lives and work.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Printed in China for the Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd, Woodbridge, Suffolk
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CONTENTS Acknowledgements
6
Foreword
8
Introduction
11
The Work and Lives of the Leading Designer-Silversmiths:
57
Michael Lloyd
294
Frances Loyen
304
Grant Macdonald
312
Alistair McCallum
320
Angus McFadyen
326
David Mellor
334
Hector Miller
346
Malcolm Appleby
58
Louis Osman
356
Brian Asquith
72
Padgham & Putland
364
Geoffrey Bellamy
80
Don Porritt
372
Gerald Benney
86
Dunstan Pruden
380
Michael Bolton
106
Martyn Pugh
388
Clive Burr
114
Keith Redfern
398
Jocelyn Burton
120
Fred Rich
406
Eric Clemments
128
Michael Rowe
416
Desmond Clen-Murphy
136
Jane Short
430
Kevin Coates
142
Graham Stewart
438
Stuart Devlin
152
Robert Edgar Stone
446
Lexi Dick
174
Alex Styles
458
Michael Driver
180
Keith Tyssen
466
Leslie Durbin
186
Graham Watling
474
Maureen Edgar
194
Robert Welch
480
Anthony Elson
200
John Willmin
492
Howard Fenn
210
Richard Fox
216
Brian Fuller
224
Wally Gilbert
230
Robert Goodden
238
Anthony Hawksley
246
Reginald Hill
252
Adrian Hope
258
Sarah Jones
266
Rod Kelly
272
Christopher Lawrence
284
Designers, Craftsmen, Silver Manufacturers and Engravers
502
Where to See Designer British Silver
536
Abbreviations
539
Glossary
540
Bibliography
542
Index
546
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Malcolm Appleby Brian Asquith Jeremy Asquith, son of the late Brian Asquith Nicholas Asquith Dr Victoria Avery, Keeper, Applied Arts, The Fitzwilliam Museum Phil Barnes Michael Barrett, Silver Steward, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths John Bartholomew John Bassant Norman Bassant David Beasley, Librarian, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Simon Beer Michael Bellamy, son of Geoffrey Bellamy Gerald Benney Janet Benney, widow of Gerald Benney Simon Benney Robin Beresford Eleni Bide, Assistant to the Librarian, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Margaret Bolton, widow of Michael Bolton Jean Breckenridge, daughter of RE Stone Robin Buchanan-Dunlop, former Clerk of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Clive Burr Jocelyn Burton Ian Calvert Justin Calvert John Campbell Stella Campion David Cawte Verity Clarkson, Collection Research Officer, Crafts Council Eric Clements Desmond Clen-Murphy Helen Clifford, Freelance Curator Kevin Coates 6
Cynthia Cousens, Senior Lecturer, Area Leader for Metals, Programme of 3-D Design & Materials Practice University of Brighton George Dalgleish, Principal Curator, Scottish History, Scotland and Europe Department , National Museums of Scotland Chiara Desantis, Acing PA to the Editor, House Beautiful Carole Devlin Stuart Devlin Lexi Dick John Donald Roger Doyle Michael Driver Maureen Edgar Ndidi Ekubia Rev (Wing Commander) John Ellis, Former Church of England Chaplain RAF Cranwell Martin Ellis, Curator (Applied Art), Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Anthony Elson Christopher English, The Silver Trust David Evans, The Beadle, Worshipful Company of Haberdashers Godfrey Evans, Principal Curator of Applied Art, National Museum of Scotland Howard Fenn Ellis Finch, Head of Silver, Bonhams, Knightsbridge Marianne Forrest Richard Fox George Frost, Guide, Lichfield Cathedral Brian Fuller Amanda Game, Freelance Curator for Craft Wally Gilbert Philippa Glanville, formerly Chief
Curator of Metalwork, Silver and Jewellery at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, Associate Fellow of Warwick University and Academic Director of Waddesdon Manor Ian Haig Peter Hampson, an advisor to The Pearson Silver Collection in the 1990s Ian Harris, N Bloom & Son Julian Hart Adrian Hope Graham Hughes Richard Jarvis Christina Jensen, Director, The Scottish Gallery Sarah Jones Corinne Julian, Journalist John Keatley Rod Kelly Alan Kelsey, a spoonmaker who was an apprentice at CJ Vanders in 1945 Chris Knight Phillip Kydd Chailey Lambert Dr Povl Larsen James Lawless, David Mellor Design Limited Christopher Lawrence Tony Laws Kirstie Lawton, David Mellor Design Limited John Limbrey Michael Lloyd Gordon Lochhead Angela Lowery, daughter of Dunstan Pruden Philip Lowery, son-in-law of Dunstan Pruden Frances Loyen Fiona MacCarthy, wife of David Mellor Grant Macdonald
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Sheila Macdonald Patrick Maddams, Sub-Treasurer, Inner Temple Oliver Makower, P&O Makower Trust and Bishoplands Educational Trust Helen Marriott Cameron Maxfield Robert May, former Principal Lecturer, Medway College of Art Alistair McCallum Angus McFadyen Corin Mellor, son of David Mellor Hector Miller Alann Mudd, Engraver and Enameller Father Tony O’Brien, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral Lucinda O’Donovan, Mary Evans Picture Library Carl Padgham Brett Payne Judy Payne Peter Payne Rear Admiral Richard Philips CB FNI, The Clerk, Worshipful Company of Haberdashers Chris Philipson William Phipps Ian Pickford Don Porritt Anton Pruden, grandson of Dunstan Pruden
Martyn Pugh Andrew Putland Rosemary Ransome Wallis, Curator, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Wendy Ramshaw Keith Redfern Andrew Renton, Head of Applied Art, National Museum Wales Christine Rew, Art Gallery & Museums Manager, Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Fred Rich Nel Romano, wife of Kevin Coates Kathryn Rooke, Archivist, The Clothworkers’ Company Michael Rowe Minnie Scott Russell Jane Short Susi Smith, Information Services Librarian, Welwyn Garden City Library Martin Snow, Curator, Museum at the Royal Hospital Chelsea Donna Steels, Collection Curator, Ditchling Museum of Art and Craft Graham Stewart Alex Styles Amanda Stucklin, Press and Marketing, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths Philippa Swann, wife of Malcolm Appleby
Christopher Tarratt Martin Tidewell, Assistant Editor, Staffordshire Sentinal News & Media Dan Tolson, former Director of Modern Design at Christie’s Trevor Towner Eric Turner, Metalwork Curator, Victoria & Albert Museum Keith Tyssen Steve Wager Ray Walton James Brent Ward John and Jane Watling, son and daughter of Graham Watling Rupert Welch, son of Robert Welch Charlotte Whitehead, Archivist, Robert Welch Designs Limited Richard Whitehouse Dr Lesley Whitworth, Deputy Curator, University of Brighton Design Archives John Willmin Jonathan Winter Tamar de Vries Winter Professor Jonathan Woodham, Director of the Centre for Research and Development (Faculty of Arts), University of Brighton
7
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FOREWORD by Gordon Hamme This volume will be the standard work for collectors as well as dealers, curators and academics with an interest in designer British silver, or modern design in general. A comprehensive work, it is a compendium of designers and designer-makers who shaped British contemporary silver from the 1950s to the present day. For the first time it reveals the full events that triggered the Renaissance in British silver during the late 1950s. It explores the lives and work of the leading players, reveals how they became silversmiths, the sources of their inspiration, the influences on their work, their major commissions and illustrates a cross section of their work, drawing on the collection of The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and private ones such as The Pearson Silver Collection and The Keatley Trust. The two authors could not have better credentials for creating this book as both are dedicated connoisseurs of the subject. John Andrew is the curator of The Pearson Silver Collection, the largest collection of modern designer British silver in private hands, while Derek Styles, who co-founded Styles of Hungerford, is a dealer of great repute and renown. What makes their opinions and judgements so interesting and valid, is that as well as being enthusiastic devotees of modern British designer silver, they are also commercially orientated, respectively as a collector and a dealer. The book covers the history of the studios established from 1930 to 1985 through to the present, with details of socio and economic insights that place the designers as well as the designer-silversmiths in their time. The story is woven with interesting and unexpected facts. It surprisingly begins in 1925 with George V complaining to the Goldsmiths’ Company that he is never given modern trophies to present at Ascot. Unfortunately the Company did not get around to organising a design competition until the following year, ready for Ascot in 1927. The King rejected all of the selection committee’s proposals! It surprises many people that George V was a champion of modern design. In the early 1930s the Government realised that design was not the country’s forte, so committees were established to examine how design could be improved on an individual industry basis. Frank Pick, who had run London Underground and then London Transport for years, was appointed to chair the Silverware Committee. One of the recommendations was a modern silver exhibition. This was staged in 1938 and was the first in the Company’s history. It was a tremendous success attracting 37,000 visitors. 8
This boded well for modern silver design, but unfortunately the storm clouds of war were gathering. World War II saw silversmithing businesses closing, while others continued working with a skeleton staff. However, one silversmith became a star. In 1943 George VI decided the citizens of the USSR’s Stalingrad should be presented with a sword to commemorate their heroic stand against the besieging German army. The King selected R.Y. Gleadowe’s design and 30 year-old Leslie Durbin, who had completed his studies as a mature student at the Central School just before the War, was charged to make it. Working in a garden shed, progress was filmed by British Paramount and screened in cinemas in the weekly newsreels. It really captured the public’s imagination. When the sword went on public exhibition, long queues formed and an estimated 30,000 people saw it. Very early in the War, the Government realised that to repay the money borrowed to fund the conflict, would require foreign currency earned through exports. So as to compete in the world market, how to improve the nation’s design capability was therefore an imperative issue. The result of all the discussions was the formation in 1944 of an influential state-funded design promotion organisation known as the Council of Industrial Design, which later became the Design Council. The Government also realised that the encouragement of good design was one thing, but the country also needed a steady supply of designers. London’s Royal College of Art was seen as the ideal institution to produce the first wave of product designers and those who could teach future generations in the nation’s art colleges. In 1948, the artist Robin Darwin was appointed the College’s Rector. He in turn appointed new professors for the various Schools within the College, drawing on some of those he had met during his war service in the Royal Navy’s Camouflage Directorate. One was Robert Gooden, an architect and designer of massproduced domestic glassware. Darwin offered him Wood, Metal and Plastics, but he opted for Silver and Glass, possibly as his uncle was the silver designer R.Y. Gleadowe and his personal involvement with glass design. One of the authors’ first big surprises as the book progressed was that Goodden was not the superb inspirational teacher and catalyst they thought he was. Nevertheless, there is no doubting that the School of Silversmithing and Jewellery, as his department became, was a great success. In the first half of the 1950s the School was blessed with five great designer-silversmiths.
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The first two were Eric Clements and Jack Stapley, who both became educators and silversmiths, though Clements was also an industrial designer. However, it was the next three who were the golden trio: David Mellor, Gerald Benney and Robert Welch. All three were educators at some stage in their careers; all were silversmiths, but not necessarily for all of their careers; and, all were also industrial designers. More to the point, all three founded businesses that today are continued by a son. Until recently, the final reason given for the Renaissance in British silver in the 1950s was Graham Hughes. He was appointed Exhibition Secretary of the Goldsmiths’ Company in 1951. He tirelessly promoted modern silver, staging many exhibitions and encouraging individuals and companies to commission it. However, in John Andrew’s words, ‘We had the firework with the blue touch paper, but it had not been lit.’ Feeling there was a missing link, he started searching. It was over pre-lunch drinks on 17 May 2011 in Chichester that he received the biggest surprise of his researches. Asking Stuart Devlin, arguably regarded as the most creative silversmith to emerge from the 1950s, what he considered triggered the Renaissance of British silver post World War II, John nearly fell off his chair when his host responded, ‘Gerald [Benney] broke the mould. He brought a richness to silver, a contribution to the idiom.’
the feature, Gerald indicates that ‘with four or five’ other smiths, ‘I am trying to design silver which is immediately recognisable as English’. John added, ‘This was a real eureka moment. I could not believe my good fortune.’ What had been puzzling John for some years then all fell into place. Stuart Devlin had given up silver for being a sculptor in the early 1960s. ‘However, when he saw that Gerald had broken the Bauhaus/Scandinavian idiom’, John explained, ‘he realised coming second was a better place to be.’ Like Benney, he did not like the Scandinavian influence on British silver – he found it alien to his nature, while Gerald found it sterile. He also realised that the items he made for his wife and friends were far more romantic than his public work. So, while retaining the simple forms of his objects, he started to enrich them to create an air of romanticism. He added gilding, textured surfaces and filigree work. He drew on his skills of working with molten metals that he had utilised as a sculptor. The result was work the likes of which had not been seen before in the world of silversmithing. In 1968, the newspaper columnist Godfrey Winn described Stuart’s workshop as ‘an Aladdin’s cave’ and his creations, ‘the work of a magician’. The author’s view is that Devlin’s ‘out of the box creativity’ was the catalyst that gave the Renaissance momentum.
However, Gerald had died three years earlier and despite long conversations over the years, it had never consciously crossed John’s mind that Gerald had contributed to the idiom. He added, ‘Strangely, when Simon telephoned to say that his father had passed away, I ended the conversation with, “You know Simon, he was a great man” and in his obituary in the Independent, I stated he was, “was one of the most outstanding and influential British goldsmiths” of his era. However, clearly I had missed something. Then Janet Benney, his widow, e-mailed and said she had found a letter and papers that may interest me. I went down. First she told me a story of how Gerald had been devastated when an American lady told him in the late 1950s that his silver “was not modern British, but modern Scandinavian”.’
The volume has taken some 20 years to research, over five years to write and and with some 550 pages containing around a third of a million words with over 500 images. While it features potted biographies of around 230 designer silversmiths who were already working in 1945, or who started to do so by 1985, the main section of the volume features the lives and works of the 50 main players based on one-to-one interviews, or where this was not possible, by drawing on unpublished autobiographies, family input or other sources. This is the first book on a generation of silversmiths that is primarily based on interviews, bringing the diverse characters to life, making it a joy to read. It is also packed with information. I learnt more on reading the chapter here on Gerald Benney than I did reading an entire book on his life and work!
While the letter was insightful, it was not groundbreaking. ‘However, the papers, which included many cuttings, seemed more interesting’, he said with a smile. ‘It was not long before I found a page from a longer interview article with Gerald. It was not dated and there was no indication of the publication. It was agreed that I take them home to browse at my leisure.’ Towards the very end of his task he found the three missing pages. In
Gordon Hamme is founder of British Silver Week, a contemporary silver exhibitions company. He has spent his working life in the jewellery and silversmithing trades and has formed a small collection of designer British silver. 9
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INTRODUCTION by John Andrew
There is no disputing the fact that since the ending of World War II, there has been a renaissance in British crafts, including metalwork. From the 1950s the UK has been a melting pot of creativity for silversmiths that today manifests itself in Britain being recognised as a world centre of excellence for designer-makers in this magical metal. Such is the reputation of the country for silversmithing that it is now attracting overseas students to study here, while established silversmiths from the Far East, continental Europe, Scandinavia and elsewhere have settled in the UK to practise their craft. Ironically Britain’s increasing repute in this field has occurred when the country’s appetite for silver in the home has diminished. In the 19th century the residences of the British middle classes shone with silver either made from the solid metal, the less expensive Sheffield Plate1 or Electroplated Nickel Silver.2 Following World War II a combination of events including a decline in domestic help, less formal entertaining and the introduction of stainless steel resulted in a gradual diminishing of the demand for traditional domestic silver. Needless to say, the war had a disastrous effect on silversmithing. The obvious fall in demand to one side, the older silversmiths were required to work in precision trades while the younger ones were called-up for active service. For example, RE Stone, who established his silversmithing business in London during 1929, was 36 when the hostilities began. His workshop was closed and he went to work at a torpedo factory in Scotland, while his apprentices and workers joined the forces – one did not return. Although Leslie Durbin was 26 when the war began, he was not called-up until December 1941; the
Opposite: Candelabrum Centrepiece Courtesy The Pearson Silver Collection, photographer Bill Burnett This four-candle candelabrum is by Christopher Lawrence. The collared hemispherical bowl on a spreading circular foot contains a textured dome mount from which four sets of five textured spikes rise. Gilt flowers surround the four candle receivers, with all being bordered by an arrangement of leaves. Height 44cm, London 1990.
delay was said to be because he was working on a commission of a dish for Sir Stephen and Lady Courtauld to present to HM King George VI and HM Queen Elizabeth. He was certainly designing and making during the early 1940s,3 though in early 1943 he was given indefinite leave of absence from the RAF to work on the Sword of Honour for Stalingrad to be presented by HM King George VI to the people of that city.4 The designersilversmiths who established businesses prior to the war, who are discussed in depth in this volume, all resumed silversmithing after the hostilities ended. They were Leslie Durbin, Dunstan Pruden and RE Stone. Charles Boyton who had set up as an independent designersilversmith after his father’s business closed in 1933 was not so fortunate, for in addition to the falling demand for luxury goods, interest in his favoured Art Deco style was waning. However, there was one silversmith who qualified prior to World War II who became a silver designer soon after he was demobilised in 1946. This was Alex Styles who studied at the Gravesend School of Art from where he won a High Exhibition to the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London.5 Although he had the opportunity to return to college after the war, his preferred option was the establishment of a freelance design practice. Although Wakely and Wheeler6 could not offer him work, the firm’s designer recalled Styles’ work when he was an external examiner at Gravesend and recommended him to Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Co Limited7 of 112 Regent Street. Following an interview with the company’s chairman he was offered a full-time position as a designer. Shortly afterwards he received an offer from Garrard & Co Limited the Crown Jewellers. He accepted the first offer as he considered it the more
1. Fused sheets of silver and copper. 2. A method of depositing pure silver on a metal, in this case nickel silver, by way of an electrical current. 3. There is a box hallmarked 1942 in the Pearson Silver Collection that bears the maker’s mark of Francis Adam. It is inscribed, ‘Designed by Leslie G Durbin and made by Francis Adam and Charles Thomas’. Francis Adam was Durbin’s tutor at the Central School of Arts and Crafts. 4. Now known as Volgograd. 5. Now Central Saint Martins, a constituent college of the London University of the Arts. 6. Wakely and Wheeler Limited was one of the large London-based manufacturers of silver at this period. It executed many important commissions from retailers such as Goldsmiths & Silversmiths Company Limited and Garrard & Company Limited, as well as many leading silver designers such as Robert Goodden and Eric Clements. The company employed superb craftsmen during the post-war era including Frank Beck, Leonard Burt and Stan Holland. 7. A large London retailer of jewellery and silver etcetera.
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forward-thinking company. The two companies in fact amalgamated in 1952, adopted the Garrard’s name, but operated from Goldsmiths & Silversmiths’ impressive Regent Street shop with John Hodges, the chairman of Goldsmiths & Silversmiths continuing the role for the combined company. Hodges backed Styles’ design philosophy and during the 1950s Garrard’s was the only retail outlet in London where one could find a selection of modern British silver. Matters were not good for the larger silver manufacturers and silversmithing workshops. Richard Vanderpump, who joined his family’s business CJ Vander in 1949, recalls that there were then 60 to 70 silver workshops and retailers in central London. At this time, Vanders employed 24 silversmiths and 10 polishers. Despite the fact that there was a demand for silver from City institutions that had lost their silver during the war, the company’s principal business was restoring antique pieces and repairing vintage items. As well as offering this service to the trade and the public, the company also bought pieces that it would subsequently sell to the retail trade. Alex Styles recalls Vanders regularly supplying Garrard’s with antique stock. When Christopher Lawrence was an apprentice with Vanders, he remembers cycling to collect a Paul Storr candlestick from a dealer in the City en route to Fenchurch Street station for his train home, putting it in his saddle bag, keeping this valuable antique in his bedroom overnight and taking it to the workshop the following morning for repair. One of the post-war austerity measures was that Purchase Tax on luxury items was increased in 1947 to an eye-watering 110 per cent. Antique and vintage silver were exempt from the tax, but apart from ecclesiastical silver, new items were not, which meant that it was difficult to sell newly made silver. When Labour won the 1945 General Election, Clement Atlee (the Prime Minister) initially appointed Sir Stafford Cripps as President of the Board of Trade. Sir Stafford realised that the punitive rate of Purchase Tax would be detrimental to skilled craftsmen and that the country could well lose the best ones. Paintings and sculpture were exempt from the tax and Sir Stafford extended this to small producers with the Assistance to Craftsmen Scheme. The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths administered this for silversmiths. Providing the Company’s Assistance to Craftsmen Scheme Committee considered that a design for a piece 12
of silver was of artistic merit, the designer could have up to six pieces made, providing each was ‘signed’. Naturally, to be able to retail an approved item under the scheme free of such a punitive tax was a great advantage. The scheme operated from 1947 through 1962. Perhaps the designer who took the greatest advantage of this concession was Alex Styles. Although he trained as a silversmith, he never registered a maker’s mark and continued to have his facsimile signature applied to the pieces he designed all his working life. Although RE Stone had his own maker’s mark, he nevertheless ‘signed’ his work with a facsimile of his signature both before the scheme began and after it ended. While this scheme helped the designer-silversmith, it was not normally of use to the larger silver manufacturers whose designers usually adapted trends rather than being originally creative. The workshop of Josiah Williams & Co in Bristol was bombed in 1940 and the business ceased. Sheffield suffered devastating bombing in the December of that year8 and some returning to Birmingham after service in the armed forces decided that the motor industry would offer more secure employment than the silver or jewellery trades for which the city had become famous. This was probably the right decision, for in March 1953, Sir Edward Boyle, Member of Parliament for Handsworth, Birmingham, raised the loss of jobs in his constituency in the House of Commons. The losses were because of the declining prosperity in the British jewellery and silverware industry. In 1946/79 the London Assay Office received 411,802 items for hallmarking, but following the imposition of the 110 per cent rate of Purchase Tax for luxury goods, this had fallen by 52 per cent to 195,891 items in 1952/3, despite the commemorative silver items made for the Coronation of 1953. As silver was needed to replace the bullion lent to the UK by the USA during the war, the Government replaced the already debased silver coinage10 with a cupro-nickel currency in 1947. Certain countries also started to ban imports, among the first being Argentina, Chile, the Scandinavian countries and Iceland.11 To add to the economic misery in that year, for two months the country suffered from an ‘Artic freeze’ with the February being the coldest on record and a temperature of -21°C being recorded in Buckinghamshire. Coal stocks were already low, but the adverse weather affected distribution to electricity stations and power cuts were ordered for both industry and domestic use.
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Food supplies also shrank alarmingly because of the distribution issues and it became necessary for the first time to ration potatoes. So, given the state of the nation and the glum outlook for the silver trade, how did Britain become a creative melting pot for silversmiths, leading to a renaissance for British silver? A most unlikely person sowed the initial seeds in 1925. King George V became tired of presenting the same traditional style of trophies at Ascot, so sent Lord Churchill, his representative at the racecourse, to see the Prime Warden and Clerk at Goldsmiths’ Hall. The general thrust of the message was ‘Get silversmiths to design modern trophies’, but phrased in a diplomatic way. The then Assistant Clerk was George Hughes. He had a genuine interest in silver, having undertaken a silversmithing course at the Sir John Cass Technical Institute. He had a good eye for design and could well have begun to focus on this aspect of silver. Certainly in that year he visited the Exposition Internationale in Paris, which put Art Deco on the map as well as similar
The Royal Family at Ascot © Charlotte Zeepvat/ILN/Mary Evans Picture Library King George V and Queen Mary at Ascot in the early 1930s, riding in a carriage with their sons Edward, Prince of Wales (in black) and Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester.
exhibitions in Copenhagen and Stockholm. Lord Churchill visited the Prime Warden just before the summer break, but despite the message from the Palace he did not reconvene the Court, the Company’s governing body. Unfortunately he appears to have forgotten all about it after the vacation, for the Court was not told until January 1926, when there was apparently an enquiry from Lord Churchill as to what progress had been made. Unfortunately by then it was impossible to organise modern designs in time for Ascot in July 1926, but a competition was held that year in readiness for the 1927 event. Unfortunately the King subsequently rejected the entire short list that had been selected by the judging committee. However, some progress was made, for in 1927 the Company started its modern silver collection and a committee was formed with the objective of improving design.
8. See note 3, p.334. 9. Up to 1974, the London Assay Office changed the date letter on 19 May, which is St Dunstan’s Day. St Dunstan is the patron saint of gold and silversmiths. 10. Following the steep rise in the price of silver bullion in 1919/20, the Government reduced the fineness of silver used for coinage from sterling (.925 fine) to .500 fine in 1920. Some sterling fineness sixpences and threepences were issued bearing the date 1920, but most 1920 specimens were struck in .500 fine silver. 11. Australia did not impose a ban until 1952. Just one silver manufacturer – James Dixon & Sons of Sheffield – exported £60,000 of silver each year ‘down under’, which resulted in a big dent in its turnover.
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Further progress was made during the 1930s. In 1933 the Board of Trade launched a quest to improve the design for manufactured goods throughout the UK. To achieve this goal the Council for Art and Industry was formed. The Council worked on an industry basis. Frank Pick was appointed Chairman of the Council and also of its Silverware Committee. He had run London Transport for years and was Vice-Chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board. While this may seem an odd appointment to us today, Pick, a solicitor, had an eye for design – remember the Underground posters and signage of the era? The Pick Report was published in 1935 and it gave a good analysis of the gulf between the mass market and that of the designermaker. While acknowledging that the Company had made progress since 1926, it noted that only a few of the more enlightened manufacturers, makers and retail outlets took an active role. Suggestions were made as to how the design of silver may be improved. This included the formation of the Wardens’ Silver Committee that comprised most of the Pick Committee and the Company’s Wardens. The Committee was formed in 1937 and worked until 1940 when it had to be abandoned because of World War II. Another suggestion was that an exhibition of modern silverware should be held at Goldsmiths’ Hall. This was the first such exhibition in the Company’s history. The event was staged from 4–16 July 1938. It was advertised by an Above: Poster for the 1938 Exhibition of Modern Silverware Courtesy The Goldsmiths’ Company, photographer Richard Valencia The poster for the 1938 Exhibition of Modern Silverwork was designed by E McKnight Kauffer. The fluted vase featured was designed by RMY Gleadowe and made by HG Murphy; it was a key image from the event. The poster appeared widely, including the Underground. George Hughes, Assistant Clerk and Art Secretary of the Goldsmiths’ Company and AE Pittman of Wakely and Wheeler, one of the London-based large manufacturers of silver, talked about the exhibition on television, then a media in its infancy. It attracted a record 37,000 visitors. This total was only exceeded twice during the remainder of the 20th century. Opposite: Display at the 1938 Exhibition of Modern Silverware Courtesy of The Goldsmiths’ Company About 500 pieces were displayed in 1938 at what was the Company’s first exhibition of modern silver. While some were from the Company’s collection, City companies, educational establishments, clubs, corporations and private individuals lent many items. Additionally, designer-silversmiths were invited to submit designs. These could be adopted by retailers and displayed with their name as well as those of the designer and maker. The Company also commissioned pieces. After the exhibition these were either gifted or placed in the Company’s collection.
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attractive modern poster and even featured on the fledgling television of the day. Around 500 pieces were displayed and it created what we would call today a certain ‘WOW factor’. The exhibition attracted 37,000 visitors, including Queen Mary and cost £7,000 to stage (equivalent to about £375,000 in 2012 prices). World War II broke out the following year. Incredibly, the Government turned its attention back to design as early as 1941, when there were discussions regarding the country’s ability to produce consumer durables that were both modern and aesthetically pleasing. It was considered that the British workmanship and materials were fine, but what was being produced did not feel or look ‘right’. In brief, while the nation could manufacture goods, it was somewhat lacking in the design department. Hugh Dalton, then President of the Board of Trade within the Coalition Government established the Council of Industrial Design in December 1944 the objective of which was ‘to promote by all practical means the improvement of design in the products of British Industry’. SC (Clem) Leslie12 became
12. Australian-born and educated, he became a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol, Oxford, where he obtained a doctorate. After a brief spell as a university lecturer in Wales and Australia, in 1926 he became an assistant to SM Bruce, the Australian Prime Minister. In the same year he companied Mr Bruce to England decided to stay and go into commerce. By 1936 he was publicity manager for the Metropolitan Gas, Light and Coke Company but in 1940 he was appointed Director of Public Relations at the Ministry of Supply. In 1943 he was Principal Assistant Secretary at the Home Office and it was from there that he moved to the CoID in 1945, a post he held until 1947.
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machine to emphasise that good design was important for business. This all-embracing organisation was directed towards industry, designers, lecturers in higher education, students and of course those who wrote about design for dissemination to the consumer. It also maintained lists of designers from which the CoID would select potential candidates when manufacturers asked for help with design matters from third party professionals. However, it was not all plain sailing for the new Council. Some manufacturers, mainly in the North, were reluctant to embrace the need for welldesigned products. Sectors of the Design and Industries Association,16 whose slogan was ‘Nothing Need be Ugly’ and which were mainly based in the Midlands, did not appreciate the intervention of what its members considered the ‘arty elite’ in the capital who favoured the Modern Movement, as they preferred the principals of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Although the CoID (which became the Design Council) eclipsed the DIA, the latter continues its work to this day as an independent body, organising competitions, events and offering bursaries. the CoID’s first Director of what was seen as the spiritual successor to the Council for Art and Industry.13 Its 18 members were mainly industrialists, all of whom promoted ‘good design’. The CoID’s chairman was Sir Thomas Barlow14 who said of the task ahead: ‘The war years of rigidity and limited production of consumer goods brought matters to a head. The prospect of our facing increased post-war competition with nations which have no lee-way to make up and which have, perhaps, been able to advance while we could not, presents a formidable challenge.’ Despite the economic woes of the UK after the war, the CoID was well funded. The combination of support from the State and input from eminent industrialists during the chairmanship of Sir Thomas signalled a new era where the Government took more than a cursory interest in industrial production and was using private enterprise to help achieve its goal. The result was a body that perhaps was the world’s most influential state-funded design promotion organisation of the second half of the 20th century.15 It set up co-operative Design Centres that were supported by firms in each industry. Training programmes were started which incorporated examinations. This initiative was of course devised to provide a supply of designers who were in a position to meet the requirements of industrial companies. It also established a savvy information 16
The CoID lost no time in planning to make an impact, for in September 1945, just a month after World War II ended, the Council announced by way of a release to trade associations that it was to stage an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum from September to November 1946. The proposed event was outlined in the Council’s Minutes: ‘...a national exhibition of design in all the main range of consumer goods – clothing, household furnishings and equipment, office equipment and civil transport... It will represent the best and only the best that modern British industry can produce ... [it will be] British industry’s first great post-war gesture to the British people and the world.’ 17 One of the world’s greatest museums of art and design was a natural choice for the venue. Part of the reason for choosing it was that its main exhibits were still in store away from the capital and the museum had not suffered war damage. World War II had left the country with severe debt. The CoID formed part of the Board of Trade. Sir Stafford Cripps emphasised that the Government’s objective was to generate an income by export in a speech during November 1945: ‘Design is a factor of crucial importance to British Industry today... We must have something more than British solidity to sell our goods in competition with others.’ The exhibition was called ‘Britain Can Make It’ and it was made clear from the
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start that the items displayed would not be available to the British general public for the time being as the object was to obtain bulk orders from overseas so that the UK could obtain much needed foreign currency. This fact resulted in the event being nicknamed the ‘Britain Can’t Have It’ exhibition. BCMI occupied 90,000 square feet, which was then half of the museum’s exhibition space. The CoID appointed James Gardner18 as the exhibition’s Chief Display Designer. The Council also appointed Basil Spence19 as Exhibition Architect and the two men worked together. Gardner’s challenge was that the number and type of goods were unknown and the design of the exhibition had to look complete without anything being displayed. He cleverly addressed this issue by not putting the exhibits on open view, as was the norm, but by tucking them into alcoves, behind screens and around corners. It is possibly no coincidence that Gardner was attached to the Army Camouflage Unit during the hostilities! When a visitor entered a section of the exhibition, all they saw was the décor: the display of goods was his element of surprise. When BCMI opened, 5,000 items were on display in 32 sections (and many sub-sections) designed by nearly 80 designers. As well as being a visual feast for the eye (there were a series of room settings) BCMI also had an educational function that manifested itself in the section called ‘What Industrial Design Means’. This was the first major commission for Misha Black20 and the Design Research Unit.21 This was an eyecatching exhibit. The 1,432,369 visitors to the exhibition encountered a plaster egg nearly 4m (13ft) high, while inside the museum there was a continually operating plastic moulding press making 3,000 egg cups a day. The display explained the importance of the industrial designer in the whole process.
Opposite: The Cover of the ‘Britain Can Make It’ Catalogue Courtesy Design Council/Brighton Design Archives This exhibition, conceived by the Council of Industrial Design, was a post-war ‘showcase’ of the best that modern British industry could produce. The aim was to generate much-needed foreign currency via exporting. Consequently the items shown were not available to the British public, so it was dubbed the ‘Britain Can’t Have It’ exhibition. A major problem for the designer of the event, James Gardner, was that the number of exhibits was not known. He cleverly addressed this issue by not putting the exhibits on open view but instead tucking them into alcoves, behind screens and around corners. It is possibly no coincidence that Gardner was attached to the Army Camouflage Unit during the hostilities!
The designer of the displays in the Sports and Leisure Section was Robert Goodden RDI22 (see Goodden, pp.23845. One of the visitors was David Mellor (see Mellor, pp.334-45). Four years later, their paths would cross. David Mellor was either approaching his fifteenth birthday or was just 16 when he ventured to London with his friend Harold Bartram.23 Both were students at the Sheffield College of Art. It was certainly David’s first visit
13. The Council was not a great success. It organised the British display at the 1937 Paris Exposition des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne. This was an important international event bringing together original artistic and industrial practices so as to show the ways in which aesthetic creativity could influence modern life. The British Pavilion had an emphasis on British sporting traditions and ‘fair play’ as well as the countryside with wall murals featuring rural agriculture, village cricket, medieval cathedrals, olde worlde pubs and country houses. This missed the main thrust of the Exposition. British manufacturers saw the Council as an elitist London organisation with no experience of the world of industry. 14. A successful textile industrialist and public servant. He was a director of the family textile business Barlow and Jones Ltd and one of the most prominent men in the cotton spinning and weaving industry. From 1941–5 he was Director General of Civilian Clothing. Although also a distinguished banker, he was deeply passionate about art and design in the industrial sphere, hence his appointment as Chairman of the Council until 1947. 15. A Dictionary of Modern Design, Jonathan M Woodham (Oxford, 2004). 16. Established in 1915, the Association was inspired by the Deutscher Werkbund that was established in 1907. This organisation’s aim was to improve the standard of design in Germany. Founder members included Cecil Brewer (a partner in the architectural firm of Smith and Brewer and a cousin of Ambrose Heal of Heal’s in Tottenham Court Road); Ambrose Heal (craftsman, designer and finally Chairman of Heal’s); Harry Peach (a devotee of the Arts and Crafts Movement who was proprietor of the Dryad Works in Leicester) and Harold Stabler (the silversmith and jeweller). All four had visited the 1914 Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Cologne. 17. Design Council Archive, Design History Research Centre, University of Brighton: ID/361 Summer Exhibition 1946: Policy Committee Minutes. 18. James Gardner (1907–95) went on to become Britain’s most important postwar exhibition and museum designer. Leaving the Westminster School of Art in 1923, he worked as a designer at Cartier in Bond Street. He was subsequently employed by the commercial design consultancy Carlton Studios where among other things he undertook ‘cutaway drawings’ of engines and radio components. This gave him a thorough grounding in understanding how things worked. He then went into advertising for a cross section of commercial companies. During the war he was attached to the Army Camouflage Unit (Royal Engineers). He was responsible for numerous deception projects, including inflatable decoy tanks and landing craft. The Ministry of Information utilised is talents as an illustrator. Following the BCMI exhibition, he joined the design group that worked on the Festival of Britain. From the early 1950s he returned to designing exhibitions, shop interiors and other projects, including in 1966, the superstructure of the QE2 ocean liner. 19. This was after consultation with the Royal Institute of British Architects. Spence, later Sir Basil Spence, became one of Britain’s most celebrated post-war architects, famously associated with the modern design for the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral following the bombing during World War II. 20. An industrial designer, interior designer and architect who came to the UK from Azerbaijan in 1912 aged two years. He was a powerful international influence on designers from the 1930s. He died in 1977. 21. This was the first generation of British design consultancies combining architectural, graphics and industrial design expertise. It was founded in 1943 by Marcus Brumwell (the managing director of Stuart’s Advertising Agency), Misha Black (see above) and Milner Gray (industrial designer). 22. Royal Designers for Industry, a distinction established in 1936 by the UK’s Royal Society of Arts to those who have achieved ‘sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient deign for industry’. 23. Later to become a graphic designer.
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to London. The two boys joined the eager throng of visitors at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Without doubt, the exhibition was a great success. The design critic John Cloag sent a telegram to the Chairman of the CoID that read, ‘Sincere congratulations on superb showmanship, excellent designs, stupendous feat of organisation.’ However, the CoID was but one initiative to improve the standard of design in Britain. The Royal College of Art had been identified early on as a suitable vehicle to help achieve the government’s goal. In 1948 the artist Robin Darwin was appointed the College’s Rector. He knew Goodden – an architect by profession, who had become interested in industrial design – from his time at the Royal Navy’s Camouflage Directorate during World War II and also when he was at the CoID. Darwin wrote the introduction to the ‘Britain Can Make It’ catalogue. The new Rector offered Goodden the Department of Wood, Metal and Plastics, but he opted for the Department of Silver and Glass, later to become the School of Silversmithing and Jewellery. Goodden probably favoured silver and glass as he had designed pressed domestic glassware for Chance Brothers and a silver trophy for the Architect’s Golf Society while a student. Furthermore, his uncle was RMY Gleadowe, Slade Professor of Art at Oxford University and then later Art Master at Winchester College. Gleadowe had a passion for silver, his most famous
24. Source: Art and Design: 100 Years at the Royal College by Christopher Frayling (Ilminster, 1999) 25. A friend of Robert Goodden. The two formed an architectural partnership after the War. Russell was subsequently appointed Professor of the Department of Wood, Metal and Plastics at the RCA.
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work being the design for the Sword of Honour for Stalingrad (see p.189). The seeds had been sown and when the hostilities were over, they began to sprout. Later a group of enthusiastic youngsters wanting to make an impact in the world of metalwork were given the opportunity and encouragement to do so. Having a determination to make a difference, they succeeded and the designersilversmith wafted like a breath of fresh air into the fusty world of a traditional craft. Goodden was Professor at the RCA from 1948–74. In that period of just over a quarter of a century, there was a steady flow of very talented silversmithing students24 (see table opposite). So, how did Goodden manage to achieve this result? The early students would have benefited from the excitement of the Festival of Britain with a feeling of optimism sweeping the country. Robert Goodden and Richard Russell25 were asked to design one of the pavilions that Goodden named The Lion and the Unicorn.
Above: Cruet Set by RE Stone Courtesy Design Council/Brighton Design Archives There was very little silver in the ‘Britain Can Make It’ exhibition, but there was some silver plate. This three-piece condiment set was designed by RE Stone, who ran a traditional silver workshop. Towards the end of his life, Stone confided to his wife that his proudest achievement was not a piece of silver, but that he had trained 10 excellent apprentices. Two of those as at 2013 are still working and have sons who are also silversmiths at the bench.
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The professors at the RCA designing for the Festival involved their students. Brian Asquith spoke of the event, ‘I couldn’t believe it. All these wonderful things together in one place, so much visual excitement. It was an enormous boost to me, a great inspiration.’ Throughout his career Brian Asquith drew his inspiration from European Modernism and also from
Name
Period at RCA
Brian Asquith
1947-51
Eric Clements Jack Stapley David Mellor Gerald Benney
1949-52 1949-52 1950-54 1951-54
Robert Welch Keith Redfern Keith Tyssen Gerald Whiles Stuart Devlin
1952-55 1956-61 1957-60 1957-60 1958-60
Tony Laws Ronald Stevens Andrew Bray Anthony Elson Ian Rodger Robin Beresford Ian Beech David Frost Roger Millar Michael Driver
1958-61 1958-61 1960-63 1960-63 1961-64 1961-64 1962-65 1962-65 1963-66 1965-68
Malcolm Appleby Hector Miller Robert Marsden Michael Rowe
1966-68 1968-71 1969-72 1969-72
Kevin Coates Michael Lloyd Martin Page Robert Birch
1973-76 1973-76 1973-76 1974-77
the artists and designers who had displayed their work at the Festival of Britain. The Company persuaded the larger silversmithing companies to mark the occasion by commissioning silver and ran a design competition. Eric Clements entered, but was not a winner. However, his design was exhibited at the Company’s subsequent ‘Modern Silver Exhibition’ and Grosvenor House, the
Career Sculptor, industrial designer and from the late 1960s, silversmith Educator, industrial and silver designer Educator and silversmith Industrial designer and silversmith Industrial designer, goldsmith and silversmith, Professor RCA 1974-83 Industrial designer and silversmith Educator and silversmith Educator and silversmith Educator and silversmith Industrial designer, goldsmith and silversmith Educator and silversmith Educator and silversmith Educator and silversmith Silversmith Educator and silversmith Educator and silversmith Industrial designer Educator and silversmith Educator and silversmith Silversmith and graphic designer Engraver and silversmith Designer and silversmith Silversmith Educator and silversmith Senior Tutor RCA 1978Goldsmith and silversmith Silversmith and chaser Educator and silversmith Educator and silversmith
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