Goldsmiths’ Fair Awards Best New Designs

Week One

Winning piece: Honey Bee Cluster Ring by Max Danger
Runners up: Mirror Brooch/Pendant by Zoe Arnold and Ishihara #1 Brooch by Andrew Lamb

Announcing the prize, renowned design curator and consultant, Mary La Trobe-Bateman, drew attention to the charm, intricacy, and craftsmanship of Danger’s standout piece - a gold, black rhodium and natural yellow diamond piece of wearable art.

“I’m absolutely thrilled. There are so many great designers here and Goldsmiths’ Fair is an amazing experience without a shadow of a doubt. Winning the Best New Design Award is like the cherry on top,” commented Danger upon receiving his £1,000 prize and a bottle of champagne.

London-based jeweller Zoe Arnold was named runner up for her Mirror Brooch/Pendant, a piece constructed with zinc, oxidised silver, 18ct gold and a shell. Scottish jeweller Andrew Lamb was runner up for Ishihara #1 Brooch, made of 18ct yellow and white gold. They both received a bottle of champagne.

Designer Insider...
Max Danger is a Graduate Bursary recipient at this year’s Goldsmiths’ Fair. He creates narrative jewellery, which incorporates a strong element of humour and/or reflects environmental concerns. His range of bee jewellery explores this endangered species.

Danger trained as a fine jeweller at Jacob Enghave Gold, a traditional goldsmith in Copenhagen, and also has an MA in Fine Jewellery and Metalwork from the Royal College of Art, London. His work can be found in private collections worldwide.

Zoe Arnold has a BA in Jewellery Design from Central Saint Martins, London. The Londoner’s evocative jewels are as much individual works of art as they are wearable sculpture, exploring the poetic and the macabre in the form of both illustrative and sometimes obscure treasures. Her pieces form part of numerous important public and private collections worldwide

Andrew Lamb has an MA in Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery from the Royal College of Art, London as well as BA Hons in Silversmithing and Jewellery from Edinburgh College of Art. Lamb’s interest in illusion and the mesmerising visual effects of Optical Art are cleverly adapted into his jewellery designs. He creates striking, yet delicately shaped pieces, which appear to shift and change as the eye moves across them. His work is in numerous prestigious public and private collections in the UK and abroad.

Week Two

Kent-based designer-maker Patrick Davison has won the Goldsmiths’ Fair 2016 Best New Design Award (Week Two) for Box, an intriguing mixed metal container constructed with silver, brass, copper, bronze, and nickel silver (alpaca). Announcing the prize, Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of Crafts Council, the national agency for contemporary craft, drew attention to the work’s intricate patterns, superb craftsmanship and beautiful finish.

“It’s a real privilege. I’m honoured and surprised to have won the award. It’s great to have the work understood, including the amount of time it’s taken to create and the process involved,” commented Davison upon receiving the £1,000 prize and a bottle of champagne.

Although small items can theoretically be stored in Davison’s process-driven piece, it is intended to be decorative rather than functional. The work’s range of tones and sculptural qualities also elevate it to the status of objet d’art.

One of 10 Goldsmiths’ Fair Graduate Bursary Scheme recipients, Davison had already been granted a free stand at this year’s Fair, a bursary of £1,500, a bullion loan of up to £3,000, and a personalised business and technical mentoring programme managed by the Goldsmiths’ Centre, the country’s leading charity for the professional training of goldsmiths and silversmiths.

London-based jeweller Romilly Saumarez Smith was named runner up for her evocative Pilgrim‘s Mirror Case. The exquisite piece links antiquity to present-day life through materiality and imagination. Whilst the miniature piece’s bronze lid dates back to the medieval period, its gold wire and silver framework are intrinsically modern. As such, Saumarez Smith embellishes buried treasures with precious metal ornamentation, turning them into thought-provoking objets d’art .

Both Davison and Saumarez Smith have work in the Erin O’Connor Selects special exhibition of Fair highlights; his Box and her ornate Sea Barnacled Pendant.

Designer Insider...
Patrick Davison creates process-led work which incorporates silver and mixed metals. He has a BA in Silversmithing and  Jewellery Design from Glasgow School of Art. He also trained at Alchimia in Florence for a year. His work can be found in private collections worldwide.
Romilly Saumarez Smith creates evocative pieces – exquisitely ornate wearable art that links the past with modern life.

Saumarez Smith trained as a bookbinder and subsequently became involved in precious metal jewellery. Her work is widely acclaimed and she has exhibited at the Victoria and Albert Museum; Sainsbury Centre, Norwich; Ruthin Craft Centre; and Edmund de Waal’s studio. Her work can be found in private collections in the UK and abroad.

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