LONDON – One of the City of London‘s oldest paint shops, or guilds, is preparing to celebrate its 700th anniversary, with an emphasis on how best to present its industry for centuries to come.
The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, commonly known as the Goldsmiths’ Company, is unusual among its eleven competitors in that it is still directly linked to the UK goldsmithing industry – through its testing office that tests precious metals for sale; the center for goldsmiths, which offers vocational training; and its charity, which awards approximately £ 4 million ($ 5.3 million) annually in grants within the industry and for other educational purposes.
The sprawling organization has announced that it is preparing for its 700th anniversary in 2027 by making changes that it hopes will erase any impression that its business – done mostly through income from dividends and real estate investments, research fees and rents Funded by venues – behind elite, gold-plated doors.
“Its strength lies in tradition and continuity, but the challenge is to balance this tradition against modernization for a new era,” says Vivienne Becker, jewelry historian and author who has accepted a kind of honorary membership for the company.
One of the tasks is to address the diversity of age, gender and race within the 1,835 members as well as the craftsmen and trainees supported. Currently, 29 percent of its members are women, and in the twelve months ending March 2021, the company gained 39 new members, of whom 19 or 49 percent were women. The organization said it had also compiled information on age and race, but had no details to share yet.
It also creates a digital archive of its 12,000-part, centuries-old collection of silverware and jewelry, as well as its extensive collection of engineering drawings and management and teaching records. “The collection and archives are the company’s hidden assets and I believe they are some of the best privately held assets in the world,” said Lynne Brindley, 694. She is the second woman in the one-year position.
Dame Brindley appears to be well positioned to add to the effort as she was the managing director of the British Library from 2000 to 2012 while it was being digitized. “The improved access to the collection will transform the public perception of the company and access to its vast knowledge and inspiration,” she said.
Dora Thornton, the company’s curator, describes the collection as âvery much alive and workingâ. The collection is used not only for teaching the goldsmiths center’s students, for exhibitions and for scientific research, but is expanded each year with orders selected by the company’s contemporary craft committee. Dr. Thornton said the selection is primarily based on individual skills and creativity, but the company is also making a conscious effort to expand diversity.
That year, for example, the company paid £ 2,000 for a gold and oxidized silver caldera ring by Emefa Cole, a London designer who uses traditional lost wax techniques from Ghana, where she was born, combined with the skills she has learned from the London Metropolitan University. “I am honored to be part of the collection,” said Ms. Cole, “and to be one of the incredibly talented creators of the past and present.”
Such inclusions, said Dr. Thornton, reflect the significant creative contribution made by immigrant artisans throughout the history of London’s trade – the collection includes works such as the creations of Protestant refugees who fled persecution in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries; the contemporary jeweler Gerda Flöckinger, who came to London from Nazi Austria as a child; and Jeanne Thé, who fled the Indonesian purges in 1965.
Pieces by immigrant artisans and British designers in particular have enriched the contemporary jewelry collection with currently 700 pieces, said Dr. Thornton. And while that number is only a fraction of the overall collection, it’s the fastest growing category today, she added.
It was initiated by Graham Hughes, who was the company’s art director from 1951 to 1981, who initiated the modern jewelry movement in the UK.
Mr. Hughes’ early recognition by jewelers like Andrew Grima, John Donald, Charlotte de Syllas and Ms. Flöckinger, who all became internationally known personalities, set a pattern that the company claims to be trying to follow today with orders and purchases. “We have supported people in their careers from the very beginning,” said Dr. Thornton, “when you are experimenting in a creative burst, and that is what makes this collection so extraordinary.”
Public access to the collection will also be improved when the Museum of London moves to expanded quarters in London’s West Smithfield.
In 2017, the company pledged £ 10 million for the project, which will include the Goldsmiths’ Gallery, a permanent home for pieces from the company’s collection, goldsmithing demonstrations, and the museum’s Cheapside Hoard collection of Elizabethan and Stuart jewelry.
For Hazel Forsyth, senior curator at the Museum of London and author of Long Lost Jewels: The Cheapside Hoard, the new gallery will highlight both the historical and ongoing importance of the goldsmithing industry in London. “London’s goldsmiths-jewelers played a prominent role in the international gem and jewelry trade: a legacy that is still important to the capital’s economy, cultural diversity and skill base today,” she wrote in an email.
While the company’s rotating exhibitions at Goldsmiths ‘Hall or Goldsmiths’ Center draw in visitors, the Museum of London drew almost 673,000 people to its current home at the Barbican, a significantly larger audience, in the 12 months to March 2020. “We have something to share with London and the rest of the world,” said Dame Brindley.
The company has announced that it will expand its reach beyond London through online courses and improve its connections with establishments such as the Sheffield cutlery industry and the Birmingham Jewelry Quarter. While acknowledging the ever-growing budget cuts and challenges facing arts education in the UK, Dame Brindley says she feels positive about a new generation who are actively growing up engaged in making and appreciating traditional craftsmanship.
âThere is a real opportunity here. Children today want to do things like that and develop practical, creative skills, âshe said.
And while pieces from the company’s permanent collection have toured the country for inspiration, it’s kept behind a high-security vault door in an undisclosed location, an address that has not been disclosed for insurance reasons. There, the shelves are crammed with everything from antique silver plates to contemporary silver sculptures, while drawers hold the modern jewelry collection.
A 16th century cup believed to have belonged to Queen Elizabeth I is one of the earliest pieces in the collection, and also one of the most significant.
Legend has it that the newly crowned queen drank from the ornate, silver-gilt vessel at her coronation in 1559 – the 49.3 centimeter high was a donation to the company that was made in 1561 by Sir Martin Bowes, a senior director and mayor of London, was given.
While there is no evidence of his royal role, the story remains that Bowes received the trophy from the Queen in exchange for his duties as the main butler at the coronation. “The collection is part of the company’s DNA because it really shows who we are and what we do,” said curator Dr. Thornton.
On another shelf stood a similarly imposing but strikingly modern mug by RY Goodden, the winning design of the 1953 competition to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After the Queen had drank from the mug, she gave it in memory of Elizabeth I. . back to society.
Also in stock are the Court Cups, a selection of silver pieces that are the result of a company tradition since 1957. Each member elected to the board, called the Court of Assistants, commissions a trophy from a leading artist manufacturer to be used while dining in the hall. An early and eccentric looking, coarsely textured silver-gilt mug was designed in 1957 for Sir Henry Tizard by Louis Osman, who also designed Prince Charles’ crown for his inauguration as Prince of Wales in 1969.
In 2009, Dame Brindley commissioned hers from Jane Short and Clive Burr. A large, elegant mug in gold and silver adorned with multicolored enamel waves to represent her love for Cornwall.
Dr. Thornton found that the stories of the artisans and their patrons are even more exciting than the pieces themselves. âIt’s not about the bling,â she said, pointing to the shelves around her, âit’s about the human connections behind all of them Things you see here. “