GOLDSMITHS' FAIR
The two week long Goldsmith’s Fair, at the Goldsmiths' Hall in London (28th September – 11th October) had more enamellers exhibiting this year than possibly ever before.
Vladimir Bohm was exhibiting his understated hand-raised silver dishes, many of which were oxidised black. Sadly, he told me that he rarely uses enamel any more as his customers do not understand or appreciate the skill involved. Vladimir displayed a single red enamelled dish as a colourful contrast to his pure silver and blackened pieces.
Rachel Gogerly was exhibiting her highly polished basse taille engraved and engine-turned small work and jewellery. She reported her ‘best show ever’, despite the recession
Fred Rich had some beautiful new work; silver vases, hand engraved/textured all over with enamel confined to a few dragonfly motifs scattered randomly over the surface. The most pleasing of these had fine silver enamelled dragonflies applied to a Britannia silver vase, with delicate basse taille engraving and gold cloisonné wires. These recent pieces have a restraint that is a welcome contrast to his more usual flamboyantly designed and coloured designs.
Rachel Emmerson displayed a range of jewellery using her characteristic basse taille engraving and clear enamel colours. She also had a new collection of bespoke enamel bangles and gold rings with opaque white and turquoise enamel bands.
New full member Regina Aradesian was showing her ever expanding range of plique-a-jour silver jewellery. In her bespoke pieces she now combines coloured precious stones to compliment her kaleidoscope enamel colours.
Harriet St Leger was exhibiting for the first time this year. A member of the Guild, her botanically inspired work is characterised by richly coloured layers of opaque enamels with sgraffito decoration. Liana Pattihis was also a first time exhibitor. Her bold experimental brooches and necklaces crafted from layers of sifted red enamel fused onto lengths of silver chain and copper mesh, made a strong contemporary statement and refreshing contrast to the more traditional techniques seen on the other stands.
Scottish jeweller Grace Girvan was showing her understated silver and enamel jewellery, combining stoned back soft transparent enamel colours with stone beach pebbles and wood. The simplicity of these pieces are in stark contrast to the richly coloured work of fellow Scottish jeweller Sheila McDonald, who was exhibiting a vibrant collection of jewellery and small work, with characteristic use of gold and silver leaf and semi-precious gemstones.
Alexandra Raphael had an interesting new range of 3D faceted brooches set with large geometrically shaped gem-stones. These pieces displayed her characteristic style
of cloisonné enamelling, but the fabrication of her work showed a new level of technical achievement.
Alexandra Raphael
Brooch “within the stone” series, silver, gold cloisonné, gold foils, aquamarine.
4 x 4.5cm
Technical virtuosity is also a hallmark of first time exhibitor Jenny Edge, whose highly polished syn- and anticlastic silver tableware and sculpture are extraordinary tour de forces, especially when you learn that she makes them entirely herself: she does all the hand raising, tig welding, engraving, enamelling and polishing. An extraordinary feat when you consider the complexities involved in making such large sinuous and convoluted forms.
Jenny Edge: Sterling silver and enamel sculpture on ebony base, 20cm wide
Tamar de Vries Winter has recently been experimenting with fusing photographic images in the form of enamel transfers onto her jewellery and silverware. As first seen in the Playing with Fire exhibition, she has developed her use of tree branch images, and has been using sections of these over coloured enamels as a new decorative technique.
Joan MacKarell displayed a characteristically colourful collection of enamelled bead and stone necklaces and other jewellery. She had some particularly beautiful basse taille engraved brooches with ancient Egyptian bird motifs, which were snapped up by private collectors.
Joan MacKarell: Duck brooch, silver, 18c gold 40 x 50 mm
ORIGIN
Origin, the contemporary craft fair hosted by the Crafts Council at Somerset House (6th -18th October) had, as you would expect, a very different collection of enamellers exhibiting (although Grace Girvan exhibited at both Goldsmith’s and Origin), with some recent graduates using enamel in a very simple, elemental way. One of these was the Korean jeweller Sangeun Kim, who uses recycled mild steel and stainless steel mesh to make geometric architecture inspired pieces with a dusting of enamel on them.
Sangeun Kim: brooch 3.5 x 4.5 x 2.5cm
Recycled steel, stainless steel, enamel, magnet 2008
Jeweller Maya Selway also used sifted enamel in her work, confining herself to just black and white opaque colours with an uneven surface texture on simple silver disc stud earrings and small round vessels. Simple convex circles also characterise the very commercial work of Rachel Llewellyn, who uses single transparent colours in various shades of blue on her multiple silver disc jewellery.
Kathryn Partington used white enamel to print decorative lacey patterns onto some of her pieces. And recent graduate Leila Arzaghi had a few enamel pieces amongst her collection of mixed media jewellery based on memory. These were beautifully delicate brooches incorporating old photographs as enamel transfers. These can be seen on her website: www.leilaarzaghi.com
Jane Moore, a master of enamel transfers, exhibited a lovely display of her oxidised silver and enamel jewellery, with a new collection using black transfer designs over transparent colours.
Sally Grant: Oxidised silver and enamel necklace