JEWELLERY & SILVERWARE

Although this is a sweepingly general heading for the wide range of specialist skills that are encompassed in this section, it merits some elaboration in its own right. There are many craftsmen who focus solely on the production of one-off items of jewellery and silverware of their own design, sometimes to commission, sometimes for exhibitions and galleries. This can be anything from an elaborately carved bangle, to a champlevé enamelled ring, to a larger objet d’art such as a bowl, box or vase that features an engraved decoration designed to enhance the item, or portray certain themes that are fundamental to the object. What these pieces all have in common is that the items themselves and the embellishment they feature are planned from the outset; as such the engraving and the item are intrinsically linked, and of equal importance.