All the right Elements to celebrate jewellery and silver

Hamilton & Inches is hosting a pop-up event for Scotland’s Elements’ festival.

Elements is Scotland’s only selling fair of contemporary jewellery and silver. It brings together some of the UK’s finest emerging and established jewellers and silversmiths for a blended festival of online and in-person pop-up selling and exhibition events.

Organised by the Scottish Goldsmiths Trust in partnership with Lyon & Turnbull Auctioneers, the festival is an annual celebration of leading UK talent in the field.

The pop-up exhibition is taking place at Hamilton & Inches’ recently renovated showroom and is running from October 14-17. It will showcase three, world-class, craft makers and will shine a spotlight on their expert, handcrafted designs. Attendees will also have the chance to meet the makers, who will exhibit a variety of eye-catching, elegant and contemporary designs.

Hamilton & Inches will showcase the intricate fineries of Michelle Currie, Alice Fry and Sheila McDonald. Their designs will be available to purchase in store and any commission made on behalf of Hamilton & Inches will be donated to the Scottish Goldsmith Trust, continuing Hamilton & Inches’ focus to support both established and emerging artisans.

Michelle Currie

Michelle Currie is currently Artist in Residence at The Glasgow School of Art Silversmithing and Jewellery Department after graduating with a First-Class Honours Degree in 2020. Michelle’s unique practice combines traditional silversmithing techniques with her love of science and astronomy, in particular black holes and gravitational waves which can be seen in her collection of explosive and ominous wearable sculptures.

Alice Fry

Alice Fry is an award-winning jeweller and silversmith who celebrates the chaotic beauty of crystal and mineral formations in silver and niobium. Inspired by her visit to the Blue John Stone caves in Derbyshire, she explores the shapes and forms of crystals, gemstones and rocks using the ancient technique of chasing and repoussé. Alice uses the metal niobium within her work, allowing her to add bright pops of colour to her pieces through the technique of anodising. This has become her specialism, and she is one of a small handful of metalworkers in the UK working in niobium.

Sheila McDonald

Sheila McDonald is an artist-designer working in precious metals with vitreous enamel. Drawing and colour are the important features of her work. Sheila’s unique approach is to recreate an idea or client’s vision in metal and enamel using many traditional jewellery and silversmithing techniques. Working with enamel requires a great deal of patience as a piece may be fired several times in a hot surface. There is a strong influence of many other past Scottish designer-makers, particularly Phoebe Anna Traquair and Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

Victoria Houghton, Hamilton & Inches CEO, said: ‘The Elements pop-up exhibition is a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight the importance of craft and craftmanship in the UK. Our commitment to sustainability is demonstrated in the recent refurbishment of our showroom and workshops and, with craftmanship being the pinnacle of our operations, we are proud to support these craft makers and their beautifully diverse creations.’

Launching for the seventh year in September 2021, the Elements online shop will bring a new dimension to this year’s Festival, where you can learn more about this year’s exhibitors and shop their work, all in one place online.

Find out more about Elements HERE.

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