Onwards and Upwards With the Arts and Crafts

For me, the holy grail of jewellery design is finding pieces from the Arts & Crafts era. I got this glass and silver brooch in a lot at a recent Waddington’s auction. It seems to have all the hallmarks of the era — the hammered finish, the art glass “stone,” the turquoise colour. It is marked “Silver” which suggests that is maybe German?

When you see and handle things like jewels or watches in person, you learn so much more about them than you ever could by reading a book. I was talking to my friend Holly’s dad at City of Craft. He’s an engineer and he likes to fix things. He was saying that the sense of touch is an amazing thing. You can tell if an object is hollow or solid just by touching it. Like I said, I see this kind of jewel so rarely that I haven’t learned what it should feel like.