News
50 Years of Grant Macdonald London The 1970’s Silver Retail Boom Part 2
If you remember the 1970s, only just remember those years or missed them entirely, you probably have a sense of what they were like. It was the decade that gave us Disco dancing, where even sensible City bankers and politicians let their hair grow a bit longer and wore their moustaches and sideburns with pride. It was also a decade of energy crises, industrial action and genuine economic problems. A mixed bag, perhaps, compared to the peace and love of the 1960s, and high powered, high tech 1980s.
Read the article
50 Years of Grant Macdonald London The 1970’s Silver Retail Boom Part 1
The 1970s are often remembered as years characterised by economic problems like the oil crisis of 1973, or high rates of inflation combined with slow economic growth leading to the infamous 3-day week, electricity brown-outs and rubbish piling up in the streets. However, a glance at Grant Macdonald London’s order books from those years – back when we were known under the name Silverform – tells a very different story.
In this 2-part retrospective into the years of...
50 Years of Grant Macdonald London: Five Decades of Pioneering New Technologies
Grant Macdonald London has always been known as a workshop that keeps the traditional – in some cases ancient – crafts of the master silversmith, goldsmith and journeyman crafts alive. However, we have also always blended high tech innovation into our work as well.
Our interest in technology began when we developed a signature style called ‘Electro-texturing’ in the late 1960s and early 70s. Using the electroforming technique and introducing small alien particles onto the surface of the silver created small bobbles as a...
50 Years of Grant Macdonald London: Worshipful Company of Barbers Mace 1966
It’s not every day a master silversmith, even one as prolific as our founder Grant Macdonald, is commissioned to create a mace. Grant’s father – Dr. George Grant Macdonald – was the master of this ancient company of doctors and surgeons, founded in the 14th Century. When the Barbers Company needed a new mace, Grant was in the right place at the right time to win the commission.
The mace holds a ceremonially symbolic role denoting the authority for the Master, while chairing the company’s Court (or management committee). Grant was still a student at the Department of Silversmithing and...
50 Years of Grant Macdonald London: Loving Cups 1960-Present
One of the defining strengths of the Grant Macdonald London workshops over the last half-century has been our commitment to tradition. This isn’t just expressed through the traditional silversmithing skills of our craftsmen, but sometimes in the pieces we produce, pieces that are so specialist, there are very few workshops with the skills and experience to take the commission.
A classic example is the Loving Cup, a ceremonial object that can be traced back to the chivalrous traditions of the Norman knights of the 11th Century, first recorded at Corfe Castle in Dorset (a favourite hunting spot for William the...
- Choosing a selection results in a full page refresh.
- Press the space key then arrow keys to make a selection.