The silversmiths strike back

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On the misty fields surrounding the Thames near William Morris’s Kelmscott Manor, a Grade II-listed farmyard is experiencing a rebirth. Where, a few months ago, a mountain of brambles hid a courtyard of derelict cow byres and stables, a sequence of studios now glows in the soft autumn light. Bishopsland, an educational charity established in 1993 to offer emerging silversmith artisans a bridge between higher education and earning a living as professionals, has just moved home. 

Without losing a beat in its year-long residential postgraduate heritage-skills programme, Bishopsland left its old base in the Chilterns over the summer, reopening in Buscot, Oxfordshire, in autumn. A fresh cohort of 12 makers (including two artists-in-residence and one returnee), chosen from 23 applicants, is already ensconced in the main work spaces, designing and experimenting with techniques including engraving and enamelling, and making a range of cuff bracelets, intricate rings, engraved spoons, silver boxes, chased bowls, jugs and myriad other pieces.

The educational trust was set up by philanthropists Oliver and Penelope Makower after many practical courses run by the UK’s old-style polytechnic colleges closed in the 1990s. The industry had already dwindled considerably from the heights of the early 20th century, when middle-class households saw silver as a status symbol. In Birmingham alone in 1914, around 16,000 craftspeople were listed as goldsmiths, silversmiths or jewellers. Two world wars and a late-20th-century turn away from silver devastated the trade.

Today, silversmiths number in the low hundreds, yet interest in specialist craftsmanship has grown. Moreover, beyond the relatively small number of masters, there is a hinterland of aspiring makers who are drawn to the material. The Makowers saw that, given constraints of time and material costs, it was not going to be possible to teach the specialist, traditional skills needed for the construction and finishing of objects made from precious metal at most art schools and universities. Without support, the industry might suffer further still.

In its 31 years, the trust has become an indispensable national resource, supporting 230 young designers through their early careers, one of the few places to offer this depth of teaching. Tutors have included the renowned engraver and jeweller Dr Malcolm Appleby, Rod Kelly, a master in low-relief chasing, Ndidi Ekubia MBE, who has taken traditional hand-raising into new, expressive territory, and the established silversmith Bryony Knox. Alumni are present at every level of the industry. 

Compared with Bishopsland’s previous premises, the new buildings – which are kitted out with donations from the many industry bodies and businesses keen to see the school flourish – offer state-of-the-art facilities. In the days after my visit, the studios for raising (repoussé) and chasing (hammering the metal with chasing tools to create surface detail) and polishing, will open up for masterclasses. Further spaces will include a finishing room and a machine room with lathes and other engineering equipment. The next two phases will see the other side of the yard restored to offer quieter, cleaner spaces for drawing and design work, as well as an external programme. A common room will be added and, around the corner, incubator spaces for fledgling silver businesses. The trust is currently fundraising for the £2.5mn required to see it through (working with private donors and a number of trusts), and has invested more than £150,000 of its own reserves.

Jamie Watson, sitting at his bench with the traditional leather “bench skin” over his knees to catch metal filings, is working on a ring for a Christmas fair. He fell in love with metal-working on his combined applied arts degree at Wrexham Glyndwr university. But it was only at Bishopsland – where he studied with the support of bursaries from the South Square Trust and the Clothworkers’ Foundation – that he was able to work with silver for the first time. This year he returns as an artist-in-residence, seeking to make tableware. 

Watson is in his mid-30s and a career-changer (he was formerly an outdoor instructor on residential courses), which is fairly common. Chief executive Claire Murdoch explains that several of the current cohort are more recent graduates whose courses were disrupted by Covid-19. They come to Bishopsland to gain the hand-eye skills they were unable to practise as students. Chamine Ghuss, for instance, now into her second year at Bishopsland as an artist-in-residence, graduated in 3D Design & Crafts Jewellery & Objects from the University of Brighton in 2021. “I spent my first year here just trying to fill the knowledge gap,” she says. Jonathan Stokes, meanwhile, who originally trained as a goldsmith in his home town of Bedford, says that he “knew nothing” about silversmithing before coming to Bishopsland four years ago. “The techniques are so different,” he explains. He is now workshop co-ordinator (the third permanent member of staff) as well as being an expert engraver. “I am able to give back what I was given,” he says, “which is very nice.”

As well as core skills, these emerging makers – each of whom pays £7,500 in fees for the year (many of these are paid by bursaries) – are given sessions on marketing and small business management. A significant feature of the course is the residential aspect, for which makers pay £650 a month. This allows them even greater access to the studios, which are open from eight until eight every day, and the friendships made over a year form the core of the kind of network that can help support a career.

What clinched the new choice of location, moreover, was its proximity to the National Trust’s Heritage & Rural Skills Centre at Coleshill, which offers heritage and rural craft courses for professionals, beginners and hobbyists. Rather than being considered outsiders, Bishopsland students find themselves part of a creative hub supporting a range of heritage-craft skills, including blacksmithing. Backed by their committed trustees, Murdoch and principal Angela Cork feel confident that Bishopsland is set for a further successful 30 years. As Murdoch says, “It is only a small charity, but for those who take its programme it can be transformational.” 

bishopsland.org.uk