"From bespoke commissions to luxurious retail collections, every Grant Macdonald London piece is the realisation of a timeless, original design. That creativity, combining advanced design technologies with the craftsmanship of London’s great silversmithing heritage, is how Grant Macdonald London delivers precious metal luxury for today’s tastes that will be admired by generations to come." Grant Macdonald
-
We’re extremely proud of the way we have found a balance between state-of-the-art technology and tried-and-tested traditional silversmithing methods, and blending the two has always played an important part of Grant Macdonald London’s story.
From his Benjamin Street workshop, Grant developed his own signature style called ‘electro-texturing’, creating texture on the surface of the silver using the electroforming technique in order to set his silver apart from other silversmiths with a technique that was as functional as it was decorative - allowing silver to be handled without leaving fingerprints behind.
Later, in the 80s, Grant brought lasers into the silversmithing workshop. He was told it was impossible to cut silver and gold with a laser - and he bought his own 60 wt. Nd:Yag laser to prove that statement wrong. It took three months of experimentation, but Grant and the craftsmen of the workshop cut a five millimetre hole in a piece of 18ct gold, and opened a window into further shapes which could be cut into silver and gold - rather slowly - but great achievements were made cutting patterns into white gold, yellow gold, transposing the pieces and soldering them in.
With the laser working through the night, Grant sought out interesting requests, cutting extremely fine strips of gold to work as part of the radar system on a Tornado fighter aircraft, which led in turn to increasing aerospace work from companies including Rolls Royce.
Several years later - after the workshop’s lasers had been employed in the creation of the Dresden Orb and Cross, as well as the Qatar Tennis Open Trophies and the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee bowl - Grant and his team discovered 3D printing.
-
To discover more about the history of technology within the workshop of Grant Macdonald London, check out the next instalment in this series, or explore our catalogue of silver and gold pieces.