| After I had been in Catherine Mannheim’s jewellery class for a year or so she suggested that I should join the Sir John Cass School at the City of London Polytechnic in Aldgate, in the East End of London. In the 1980s the East End was full of Jewish eateries, the rag trade, and Bangladeshi refugees. The Cass was a whole new world for me, and it was difficult to choose which course to take from among all those on offer there enamelling, embossing and chasing, die-casting, diamond setting, engraving, silversmithing and many more. I chose silversmithing and engraving. Silversmithing in England has been of a very high standard since the time the Huguenot silversmiths migrated here from France in the late 17th century. At that time English society was becoming rich with England’s increasing role in world trade. Tea, coffee and chocolate were introduced to the English table, for which elaborate silver services were designed. ‘Georgian’ silverware made in the 18th and early 19th centuries commands astronomical prices in the auction rooms and antique shops. The tradition of high quality work has been kept up through the guild system, and in modern times through schools like the Cass. There are British silversmiths today producing wonderful work which can be seen at the famous silver shops such as Aspreys, as well as at craft jewellery fairs. Silversmithing, the making of silver boxes, bowls and table-ware was of course on a much larger scale than the goldsmithing that I had been used to. Much of the work was done with ham... |
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