News
Silver Cutlery Then and Now
The relationship between the silversmith and the cutler (or cutlery seller) is a very long one. To put that into perspective, let’s take a step back in time, and consider how this most ancient of things is undergoing a remarkable high-tech renaissance in the Grant Macdonald London workshops today.
Silversmithing is an ancient craft. The use of silver can be traced back into antiquity as far as the Babylonians and Egyptians in 4th millennium BCE, although the sort of tooled smithing...
Luke Orford, CAD-Smith
Meet Luke Orford, our CAD designer and 3D Printing expert, who is helping the workshops blend the latest rapid prototyping technology with the centuries old skills of the master craftsmen at Grant Macdonald London. The results are hand-made, finely crafted works of art that simply couldn’t be produced a decade ago, and production processes that blend the best of high tech engineering with the very finest quality silversmithing.
After graduating from UCA Rochester (like Zoë – see her post here) Luke was already experimenting with 3D modelling software like Cinema 4D, Rhino 3D and Blender, one of the few people...
Zoë Stevens: A day at the silversmith’s bench at Grant Macdonald London
Meet silversmith Zoë Stevens – as she takes us on a tour of the workshop and a day at the workbench – as she crafts a beautiful herd of Arabian Oryx for a customer in the Middle East.
Like a few other members of the Grant Macdonald London team, Zoë graduated in 2007 from UCA Rochester (formerly the famous design college KIAD) in Kent with a jewellery, silver and goldsmithing degree. She soon found a job at Elliot-Fitzpatrick, who like us are Royal Warrant holders, three years ago she joined the Grant Macdonald London team.
”When the opportunity came up...
Caddy Spoons.
You might be surprised to know that one of our most collectable pieces of silverware is neither jewellery, objet d’art or cutlery, but an item that sits somewhere in-between all three. Strange as that might sound, our Caddy Spoons are remarkable things, commissioned by leading silver jewellery, objet d’art and antique dealer, Styles Silver of Hungerford.
George Styles, proprietor and Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, explains the caddy spoon phenomenon…
“Caddy spoons have always been a traditional collector’s market,...
Tusk: Year of the Lion
Meet Ruaha, designed and crafted for Tusk, who along with his little brother Luangwa, is helping this innovative conservation charity make 2019 the Year of the Lion. This year, Tusk has initiated multiple programmes to raise awareness, combat poaching and reduce the habitat loss that is driving the lion, the iconic King of Beasts, towards extinction.
Lions have been celebrated and revered throughout history for their courage and strength. Once roaming most of Africa and parts of Asia and Europe, now only...