Goldsmiths’ Fair 2018

At the beginning of autumn and like every year since 1982, the Goldsmiths ‘Fair opens the doors of the gold case, gilding, and crystal chandeliers of Goldsmiths’ Hall.  This event supports the goldsmiths and jewelers craftsmen of the United Kingdom. Two best design awards and 10 scholarships are awarded to promote emerging artists. This year, 138 exhibitors accepted on file had the honor of participating in this show open to customers, collectors, but also to lovers in search of beauty and perfection. In some major themes, here we are my favorites of the first week of the fair.

Place to design, techniques and the unexpected: secrets of artists!

Lukas Grewening  showed his oxidized leaves. They shine and yet there are no diamonds. What is his secret? A flash and everything is unveiled – the metal is milled at selected locations to reflect the light at the flash and form a white pattern on a black background. The effect of surprise is immediate.

Platinum – precious white metal – changes color thanks to the confidential alloys of Tom Rucker. Blue or pink, it is associated with the white or yellow gold treated in a fine toasting so each tiny segment is welded with the laser – equally confidential method!

Max Danger decides to surprise by sculpting robots, bees and apes from the wax. The result is bluffing with realism and meticulousness. The jewels are playful and carry message – “the weight of the world on the shoulders” or pollution …, which he uses as a starting point to his creativity.

Keum-Boo, Korean ancestral technique, is revisited by Anna Wales in a necklace sublime because of its simplicity and efficiency to cover the neck. Kayo Saito hammers silver and plays with thread and pearls to form organic and aerial volumes.

Precious details

Saint Dunstan, patron saint of goldsmiths, hides in the details! Each one counts, magnifies the jewel and makes it irresistible.

Ruth Tomlinson traps the stones with granules, traps them in the metal as if gold and crystals are one. The play of textures and patterns oscillates between the impression of the crude and the sensation of softness.

Yen works the precious metal threads by making them live the extreme, but in just a few seconds. An intense flame creates pretty golden pearls, like drops of dew on the end and golden stems that crimp the stone.

Maya Selway is aptly named. Solar, she chooses to set, or not, a shades of sparkling blue or pink sapphires on an original floral pattern. His alliances play on the same principle – the open setting becomes an explosive openwork.

Margaux Clavel facets the metal in the style of precious stones, designed to create contemporary jewelry inspired by Victorian jewels embellished with diamonds, sapphires and emeralds. Roman architecture is transcribed into columns of lapis lazuli and malachite chandelier earrings.

Center stone

Partisans of the precious metal, take care, you will forget it! These artists sculpt, stack and combine gemstones, which become the main subject of the piece. Did you talk about metal?

The stones of Ingo Henn are carved in Germany, his country of origin, and carries out a global work around mythical birds or contemporary motifs by associating enamel – works of art on a scale of jewel.

Chris Boland has a citrine embedded in the amethyst, which becomes a purple window to a hidden pan of the stone. The arrangement of the stones on the rings is such that one discovers the object incessantly, by making him make turns between his fingers. It changes the meaning of the worn on the hand for the pleasure of change.

  Shivani Patel, Josef Koppmann and James Fairhurst showcase cut stones, but each with its own style. Shivani uses carved stones in the culet , which makes the admirer dive into the colors and reflections of rings and necklaces. Josef combines colors and sleek shapes, cubic, rings complement each other. James favors intense cabochons in a solar setting.

And now my visit to Goldsmiths’ Fair is coming to an end. I regret not being able to discover the artists of the second week. The discoveries, the wonders and the meetings with the artists were at the Goldsmiths’s fair. I thank all the jeweler’s artists who shared their inspirations and their passion at their booth, for the precious time they gave me as the customers were hurrying.