Studio Visit - Alan Ardiff

The 'Studio Visits' are a monthly blog installment. We're opening our doors to introduce you to the artists and designers in The Design Tower! Each interview will give you an insight into the individual designer or business. This month we're chatting to jeweller and artist Alan Ardiff. 

How did you come to be a jeweller?
I am an accidental jeweller; having studied industrial design and failed, I fell into the craft department and it seemed a nice warm place to be. However I took to jewellery as I liked the scale of the design and it is nice to be in control of the translation of a design from beginning to end unlike some other media. I was also able to apply my industrial engineering ideas to jewellery design, using intricate processes and articulation to create pieces that are innovative in terms of their kinetic abilities.

 

Fisherman'sTails

Where did you train?
I attended the National College of Art and Design in Dublin. I have not had that highly refined classic training of a master goldsmith and I am first to admit that I really wouldn't have that level of discipline. My real training I would see as my work experience in Turin Italy and also with the renowned jeweller, Paul Preston. His work has been a great inspiration to me as he uses gold beautifully to create forms which tell wondrous stories.

Toast

Where is your studio?
I am split in two; I live and have a studio in the wilds of the west of Ireland where I can spend time to create without the distractions of business side of making the jewellery. I also have a studio in the Design Tower and I work with a great team of makers to make sure my jewellery can be appreciated by a wide spectrum of people.

What is the main inspiration for your designs?
I like my work to be a source of interaction between people, the wearer and admirer. This, I think I have achieved through creating work that has not really been done before, in that I incorporate moveable parts in my jewellery. My ongoing driver is to create work with a new dimension. I am very excited about a new piece called ‘Two for Joy’. It is yet again a development of the articulation I use in my work, in this piece 2 birds move independently.

Head Over Heels

What medium do you prefer to work with?
Gold. It does everything you want and is totally forgiving - it is beautifully luscious and steeped in history. I continue to be in awe of the gold collection in the National Museum of Ireland.

Do you have a favourite tool?
My little hammer - it was my first acquisition and reflects the miniature engineering elements of my work.

What are your goals?
To keep coming up with innovative pieces; I am very happy this year as I have plenty of new ideas but some years this can be a bit of a challenge!

No such thing as aliens

Do you give workshops?
Not on an on-going basis. I have been invited to give courses in design at my old college.

What has been your greatest achievement?
My greatest achievement is having people who are fascinated with my work, I am humbled by their enthusiasm. From my beginnings at a work bench in my bedroom to a business with five employees has only been achievable through the tremendous support of my customers.

Star gazing

Where do you exhibit your work?
I largely distribute my work throughout Ireland however I would love it to be more accessible around the world. My website is ideal for people to access my work where there is not a local stockist. An email or call to the studio can take the stress out of making a long distance choice and we welcome people to our Dublin studio.

Thanks Alan! You can see more of Alan's work on his website or facebook page. This interview is part of a series called The Studio Visits.

Studio Visits - Aisling Nelson from Rangoli

How did you come to design jewellery and hair accessories?

I began my career studying graphic design, specialising in illustration. A six month trip to India and Nepal in 1994 inspired a career change. I was completely fascinated by the ornamentation and use of colour in even the most everyday objects. I've always loved pattern and colour so India blew all of my senses.

When I got back to Ireland, I enrolled in college for a two year craft design and business studies course. I specialised in jewellery and my graduation collection featured silver box frame pendants and brooches, with  Perspex, Japanese silks and beading.

Photo by White Tea

Photo by Stephanie Fay

While at college, I also did some work experience with a textile artist where I learned the techniques of crochet and weaving. I began combining these traditional techniques with modern jewellery skills to produce a range of fine textile jewellery. On leaving college, I set up my business Rangoli in 1998.

 Headpiece made from fine crochet, incorporating citrine and pearl beading

What materials do you work with?

I work with two different methods of construction. My crochet designs are made by combining up to five strands of metallic threads and incredibly fine enamelled wires. This mix allows for subtle colour variations. For example rose gold can be created by adding a magenta coloured wire to the selection of gold and silver threads. My other collections are made from intricate beaded wire-work where I can replicate some of the delicacy and pattern formations of crochet but with a stronger structure. I incorporate a wide range of semi-precious stones, pearls and crystals into the designs.

Photo, (right) by Nicola Webster

Who do you design for and what process is involved in designing bespoke pieces?

I specialise in designing bridal jewellery and hair accessories. All of my designs are made to order so I get to meet my clients in person. This is one of my favourite aspects of my job, discussing ideas, styles and occasions!

 Photographs by Bernard Carolan at Mark Griffin Photo

The first meeting usually involves an informal chat - I get to find out about the person's style as well as the dress they have chosen. I look at many elements such as the lines and structure of the dress, the embellishment or surface decoration as well as the overall style. Hairstyles also come into the equation! Some clients come in with a clear idea of what they want while others want me to design a special piece for them. I offer advice on styling the bride's look. Listening is an important skill in what I do.

Photo by Brendan Lyon

Where is your work available?

I make bespoke pieces to order and do not supply any other retail outlets. Having previously supplied a number of outlets around the country, I found that I missed out on the connection and valuable feedback that I get from my own customers. Not everyone is able to visit my showroom, so pieces can also be ordered online and designs discussed by phone and email.

Have you worked on any unusual commissions recently?

The headpiece below was for someone who had a very definite idea on the shape, materials and overall feel of the piece that she wanted. The dress was lace, with a vintage feel. The client also sent me a picture of a comb whose shape she really liked. For this design, I printed the image of this comb and cut it out so we could place the shape on her head. This probably sounds odd but it gave us both an excellent idea of the scale and outline shape of the proposed design! Below left, you can see how I have pinned on some small beaded shapes on top of the paper.

Once we were both happy with the scale and shape of the piece, I began working on detailed sketches of the intricate lace form. I then created many individual beaded elements which were finely woven together as the piece was being constructed. This design took many hours to make and was a fascinating new direction for me in terms of assembling a piece from a number of smaller forms.

What inspires you to design?

Pattern and colour are key things. I love delicacy and transparency and yet I am equally drawn to structure and linear forms. Fashion is a constant inspiration too from eighteenth Century to modern innovative couture. Travel to weird and wonderful places is another passion. This year we're off to Uzbekistan for an adventure along the old silk route!

What do you enjoy most about your job?

I really enjoy the interaction with clients and involving them in the design process. I love working for myself with the balance between client interaction and my design and making time. Most of my work comes from word of mouth referrals which is also very satisfying. And I am proud that I am now in my fourteenth year of business!

Can you tell us about the necklace you designed for the Wunderkammer exhibition?

The Wonderkammer Exhibition was a group show from designers in The Design Tower, inspired by the Albert Bender collection at the National Museum of Ireland.

Inspiration came in two forms! I loved the colour palette found in the Thangka paintings as well as the stylised swirly clouds. In these Buddhist paintings, the blue sky depicts the Buddha mind while the clouds convey the random, transitory thoughts that pass through the mind during meditation.

I enjoyed experimenting with a new material - fine coloured enamelled crochet ribbons. I discovered that I could distort these ribbons into undulating cloud shapes by crocheting along the upper edge of each strand. It is still the only piece that I have ever made that doesn't incorporate a single bead!

Thanks for chatting with us Aisling! You can read more 'Studio Visits' interviews from the series.

For more information on Rangoli, visit the website or the Rangoli Jewellery blog which showcases some of Aisling's recent bespoke commissions.

Studio Visit - Seamus Gill, Silversmith and Jeweller

The 'Studio Visits' will be a monthly blog instalment. We're opening our doors to introduce you to the artists and designers in The Design Tower! Each interview will give you an insight into the individual designer or business.

This month we're chatting to Seamus Gill -  Silversmith and Jeweller

Can you tell us how long you have been here in the Design Tower and what you do?

I have had a studio in The Design Tower for nearly 20 years and I am a silversmith.

What does that entail?

As a silversmith, I normally buy silver from a bullion dealer that has been rolled out into flat sheets, similar to a flat sheet of paper, but with a thickness from 1 to 1.5mm. With a hand saw I can cut the shape I want out of the flat sheet , then I move the flat sheet of silver by hammering it into a three dimensional shape.

Is silver easy to shape?

Silver is extremely malleable and a great metal to work with. The sheet silver can be moved by stretching or compressing the metal.

Do you model it with your hands?

Oh no! It’s much too hard for that. All the stretching and compressing is done by using hammers to move the metal and a selection of anvils, which we call stakes, to support the metal.

Do you hammer the metal hot like a blacksmith?

No. Silver and non ferrous metals are generally worked cold. But you can only move the metal so far until it work hardens. I then heat it up with a gas torch until it is red hot to anneal the metal. That relives the stress in the metal and brings it back to a soft state so it can be worked further. In every piece I make it’s a continual process of working the metal then annealing and then further working.

What do you make?

I work at two scales, the small scale of jewellery and the larger scale of silversmithing work.

My jewellery is like a small version of my silversmithing work, it is all formed and shaped flat sheet. Most of my jewellery balances a highly polished section against a textured finish. In my latest collection “Flowing Curves” I have added 22 carat gold plating to the textured surface as you can see in the photograph of the bangle.

Do you like making bangles?

It’s a great scale to work in. It’s just that bit too big for someone trained in jewellery but it’s nice and small for someone trained in silversmithing.

What are you doing next in jewellery?

I’m working on developing a new collection of jewellery which I hope to have ready to launch in DesignYard this autumn.

And you work on a larger scale?

Yes, most of what I do would be on a larger scale. I make a lot of tabletop silversmithing work. That’s like candlesticks, vases, water pitchers and larger pieces like that.

Where would you show that work?

I normally make it for exhibition. I’ve just taken part in an exhibition in London where I showed a body of work in the exhibition “the Ten Masters” of British Silversmithing as the launch of British Silver Week. And I am represented by DesignYard on Nassau Street, just a few doors down from Grafton Street. I regularly have work exhibited there.

Is all your silversmithing work for galleries?

No, I do a lot of silversmithing work to commission. Throughout the history of silversmithing most work is made to commission.

What exactly is commissioning?

Basically it’s where I can design and make a piece that you can’t get anywhere else. I suppose it’s a bespoke service.

What kind of commissions are you working on now?

I am making the trophies for the Darley Irish Oaks races at the Curragh and the awards for the Rugby player and Club of the year which is presented by the Rugby writers of Ireland and on some private presentation piece.

Do you only work in silver?

Over the last number of years I have made sculptural pieces in sheet bronze. It has very similar working qualities to silver, but without the high cost of silver. I have also introduced colour to my work through patination on the bronze.

At the moment I have some pieces in the “Portfolio” exhibition in the Farmleigh Gallery in the Phoenix Park and I’m working on some pieces for the “Sculpture in Context” exhibition that will be on in the Botanic Gardens in September.

Séamus, thank you for sharing your work with us! Next month we will be featuring another designer from The Design Tower. You can also read the other interviews in the series.

Studio visit - Breda Haugh, Jeweller and Designer

The 'Studio Visits' will be a monthly blog instalment. We're opening our doors to introduce you to the artists and designers in The Design Tower! Each interview will give you an insight into the individual designer or business.

This month we're chatting to Breda Haugh - jeweller and designer

Breda, tell us about your business and how you came to be a jeweller.

Many varied experiences have led me here to The Design Tower. I was introduced to the artefacts of the National Museum and Gallery as a child which made a lasting impression. Art wasn’t taught particularly well at my school, but a friend’s brother was a designer in advertising – I was intrigued, and for some reason was particularly interested in the idea of design, reading all about it, and the art and design of the early 20th century, particularly that from Russia. I remember too, buying Mary Quant’s autobiography, (the English designer), which fascinated me.  It’s the thinking process I like.

A year after leaving school  I found myself in NCAD and subsequently the Design School, during changing times when it was very interesting to be a student. I eventually specialised in jewellery and was fortunate to be chosen for a summer intern-ship in the Kilkenny Design Workshops, during their heyday, and  subsequently received  a graduate  scholarship  enabling  me to further  study jewellery in London for a few years.

I stayed on for a while  to work in the jewellery industry, really enjoying my time , and making the most of the city. When I moved back to Dublin I was again employed in the trade, both manufacturing and retail. And then I found The Design Tower, where I have been designing and making jewellery ever since.

My fascination with design has taken a slightly more academic direction of late, as I am in the process of completing a taught MA in Design History and Material Culture in NCAD - back to where it all began!

What materials do you like to work with?

Metal was the material of all I experienced in NCAD which fascinated and held me, though wool and weaving intrigued too. I now work exclusively in the precious metals of silver and gold, with periodic enhancement of gemstones. I aim to create jewellery that is an expression of personal adornment and extension of self. Each work reflects my passion for design, and particularly the place metal holds in our national identity.

For conceptual work, along with metals, I like to introduce additional materials such as paper and leather.

What inspires you to design?

Abstract ideas, architecture contemporary design, different cultures, politics, history, natural forms, light and shade, uses of different  materials. Customers inspire too.

Tell us about some interesting projects you have worked on recently

In  2000 I was delighted to be approached by our National Museum to develop a new jewellery collection for their retail outlets, to be based on an artefact from the national collection. Selected for me was the Gold Ribbon Torc, found in Co Antrim -1200-1100 BC. This work with its fine command of technique, sense of proportion and sophisticated design, all  form  a superb example of the craftsman’s Art, making it a very inspiring piece for me to work with, and  one I had long admired. We have little information as to how, or indeed who made it. However  in recent years technical  investigations were carried out by the Irish silversmith Brian Clarke along with his American colleague the jeweller Michael Good, and they concluded that the Torc was made by a version of Anticlastic raising with a red deer’s antler being used in the  process.  

It was required that I  create  work suitable for sale while retaining a sense of the Torc. To do this I carried out research, completing preliminary drawings - from which having gained approval I created the Collection - a contemporary twist on a remarkable piece of art.

This is a full collection of Jewellery both in 18ct gold and Sterling silver. Later  I developed items of jewellery based on Viking artefacts and folk-life items such as the Bridget’s Cross and Harvest Knot, (see below).

In recent years I undertook the commission to develop jewellery based on the Bender Collection of Asian Art, on exhibition in the Museum of Decorative Art and History, Collins Barracks. This comprises brooches and pendants inspired by Fans from the collection.

Tell us about the piece you designed for the Wunderkammer Exhibition on 2009?

“The Gift “ was my piece created for the Wunderkammer Exhibition 2009- based on the Bender Collection, and is a tribute to  the generosity of Albert Bender, the limitations in his own life, his fascination with books, interest in and support of contemporary US and Irish artists and writers. The piece takes the form of two silver small works and an accordion book. The book contains  line drawings and watercolours based on nineteenth century Japanese Prints in the collection, and two lines from W.B Yeats’s poem “The Song of Wandering Aengus”-  “Silver apples of the moon, Golden apples of the sun.”

The silver bowl directly references the gift of fruit in the eighteenth century Thanka of the Arhat Abheda- a disciple of the Buddha, depicts silver and gold apples which are  reminiscent of the poem. The fine lines of gold applied to the external surface of the square silver box reflect the architectural structures portrayed in many of the Japanese prints, and signify confinement. In contrast the inside being is devoid of line, reflecting the notion of a certain freedom.

Are you working on any interesting commissions or have you exciting plans for the coming year?

My latest collection, the silver and baroque pearl,“Silver Circles in Space “ - see image below - inspired by Indian jewellery and circles floating in space, was selected as one of the top 50 products in Showcase 2011.

I recently completed a commission to develop jewellery for the Glasnevin Trust based on their Angel/ Flower logo. The jewellery is for sale in the retail outlet at the museum in Glasnevin Cemetery.

I have a few other projects in the pipeline, for which I will be able to give some information at a later date.

Can you tell us where your work is available to purchase?

A selection of my stockists include;

In Dublin

• Archaelogy – the National Museum, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.
• Decorative Arts and History, The National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin 7.
• DesignYard, Nassau Street, Dublin 2.

Outside Dublin

• Little Fish Designs,  Blackrock Shopping Centre, Co Dublin.
• Avoca Handweavers, Kilmaconogue, Co Wicklow.
• The Cat and the Moon, Castle Street,  Sligo.
• The Museum of Country Life, Turlough Park, Castlebar, Co Mayo.

A selection of items are available on the website www.Siopa.ie (Irish Gifts), and exclusively for the US market www.irishheart.com

My work is available also in my studio, where I see clients for private commissions, for which I prefer to work by appointment.

Thanks for talking to us Breda! Next month we will be featuring another designer from The Design Tower. You can also read the other interviews in the series.

Photo credit - Studio portrait of Breda by Lee Harding.