Q&A: Jeff Lowe

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Jeff Lowe is an internationally acclaimed sculptor and jewellery designer. Educated at the famed St. Martins School of Art, under the esteemed Sir Anthony Caro, Phillip King and William Tucker, Lowe's career skyrocketed as a result of his first one man show at the prestigious Leicester Galleries in Londonʼs Cork Street. He answers the Benchpeg Q&A...

For the past forty years, Jeff Lowe has remained at the forefront of contemporary abstract sculpture, representing Britain at the Paris Biennale, recieving the Sainsbury award in 1975 and the Pollock-Krasner award in 1993. He has been exhibited at museums and galleries around the world, with significant exhibitions at Hayward Gallery, London; Serpentine Gallery, London; Peggy Guggenheim, Venice; Ikon Gallery, Birmingham; Galerie Josine Bockhoven, Amsterdam; Robert Steele Gallery, New York; Bodo Niemann Gallery, Berlin; Musee D'art Moderne, France; The National Gallery of Australia and the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds.

Lowe has passed on his craft skills through teaching at Reading University; Canterbury College of Art, London and the advanced course at Central Saint Martins.

Lowe lives and works in both London and the Algarve in Portugal, and is currently working with aluminium, steel and cast iron. His works vary in scale from jewellery pieces to small plinth pieces to large-scale indoor and outdoor works.

What’s your name, and what do you for a living?

JL: My name is Jeff Lowe and I make things.

How did you come to work in the jewellery industry?

JL: Making a brooch initially as a gift for my wife Monica. It was seen by galleries and I was asked to make more. I consider the jewellery to be more like small sculptures.

How would you describe your work to someone who doesn’t know it?

JL: Abstract, strongly visual, responsive to materials and the making process.

What is your creative process?

JL: The materials are important and the process used to affect and make work. I make and respond to what is happening in front of my eyes, trusting my eyes over my head. I love the excitement of creating and discovering something that I don’t know about.

Where do you love to shop?

JL: I have always loved junk shops and finding something inspiring and unusual.

What is your inspiration?

JL: Inspiration is difficult to pin down. I absorb from Art, architecture, landscape and literally anything including music which is always on in the studio.

What piece of jewellery do you most treasure?

JL: A few weeks ago I actually made a badge for myself, something I would wear but I also love old watches.

What piece of jewellery do you most desire?

JL: I saw in auction a 1920’s Rolex wristwatch with a silver hinged cover.

Is there a seminal book or a favourite read that you have?

JL: I subscribe to the art catalogues for Christie’s and Sotheby’s and it is always exciting to see works from collections and things not displayed for many years and to read about the people who bought them.

Is there a particular tune, song or soundtrack to your life?

JL: Philip Glass. Einstein on the Beach

If you could only be remembered for one piece of your work, what would it be?

JL: the last one I made.

What would be your advice to someone starting out in the industry?

JL: Making Art is for you, Not anyone else. Always remember why you chose it in the first place.

The Benchpeg Proust Q&A

1. What’s your favourite work of art?
JL: Anthony Caro’s Early One Morning

2. Who from past or present would you invite to a dinner party for the evening?
JL: Picasso

3. Do you have any pets, if yes, what is their name?

JL: Two dogs. Thomas and Moses

4. What is your most treasured possession?
JL: A very old and sculptural dining table.

5. What would you consider a perfect day?
JL: Working in the studio on new work and feeling nervous but fulfilled if I have learned something at the end of the day.