The impact of silver metal technology has driven the development of modern furnishings throughout the 20th century. The transformation of a chair into a sculptural statement, for example. Interior metal objects have not always been at the forefront of modern design within a multi-function. With the emphasis on warmth and comfort in the home, the scope for a wide range of metal products for this domain is not there.
The great silver workshops’ traditions continued in the 20th century, supported by patronage and the desire to offer and receive precious objects. Art Deco’s context allowed French workshops of the 1930s to rediscover the monumental and majestic, albeit with an angular styling that distinguished it from its organic and belle époque predecessors. After WWII, silver design became less formal – mirroring society’s changes with the workshops of Georg Jensen in Denmark at the forefront of this movement towards a more amorphic range of shapes and forms.
The other great theme in 20th-century design has been the streamlined aesthetic of machine-age production. This has been used to root products in a Functionalist tradition that embraces modern life’s speed and efficiencies. These products are generally full of contradictions – static objects made to look faster, a streamlined fridge, for example, but they are all the more interesting for that.
This period’s sculptural traditions were probably at their height in the 1930s when the combination of contemporary styling and taste allowed many fine commissions. The monumental quality of this work, even in miniature, has tended to make it very much of its time. The most enduringly popular sculptural objects remain those of dancing girls and animals.
Sources
Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing. https://amzn.to/3D28Js2
Rennie, P. (2003). Miller’s 20th-century design buyer’s guide. Miller’s. https://amzn.to/3rhh8pe
More on Silversmiths
-
Gundorph Albertus: Danish Silversmith and Designer Extraordinaire
Gundorph Albertus, the renowned Danish silversmith and designer, left an indelible mark on the world of silver craftsmanship. Working for Georg Jensen A/S, he is best known for his iconic creations, the Cactus and Mitra flatware patterns. This blog post explores Albertus’s early life, education, and illustrious career, highlighting his notable achievements and contributions. From…
-
Fred G. Minuth (1884 – 1966) American Silversmith
Fred G. Minuth, an American silversmith, co-established the Frank S. Boyden Co, later the Boyden-Minuth Co, in Chicago in 1903. The company, still in operation, produced ecclesiastical objects, jewellery, and silver trophies.Read More →
-
Flemming Eskildsen (b.1930) Danish designer and Silversmith
In 1958 Eskildsen joined the Georg Jensen design department making designs for flatware, jewellery and hollowware. He became the foreman of the design department in 1962.Read More →
-
Masterful Craftsmanship and Modern Ornamentation: The Legacy of Erna Zarges-Dürr, German Silversmith
Erna Zarges-Dürr (1907-2002) was a German silversmith. She was professionally active Pforzheim, Leipzig, Berlin. and Stuttgart. Between 1924-27, she trained at Bruckmann und Söhne, Heilbronn, as the first women in the silversmiths’ department. From 1927, she studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Pforzheim, under Theodor Wende and others. Read More →
-
Teapot with warmer by Christopher Dresser
He developed a variety of every day goods for silverware manufactures in London and Birmingham between 1865 and 1885.Read More →
-
Johan Rohde (1856 – 1935) Danish Architect & Designer
He was born in Randers, where he graduated from grammar school in 1875 and studied medicine before turning to art and painting. In 1882, he enrolled in the Academy after studying privately with Wenzel Torne.Read More →
-
Bernard Instone: Master Silversmith and Enameller (1891-1987)
British silversmith Bernard Instone, born in 1891, revolutionized jewelry design with his enameled silver work, blending traditional techniques with individual creativity. His legacy continues to inspire artisans today.Read More →
-
Wiwen Nilsson (1897 – 1974) Swedish Silver Designer
Swedish Silver Designer Wiwen Nilsson (1897-1974), known for simplicity and elegance in his work, made notable contributions to art and design. He extensively trained in renowned art spaces, and his art has won several accolades.Read More →
-
A Brief Overview of Carl Cristian Fjeringstad: Life and Legacy
Carl Christian Fjerdingstad was a Norwegian designer born in Kristiansand and active in Blaricum (Norway), the Netherlands, and Paris. Carl Christian Fjerdingstad worked as a designer for Orfèvrerie Christofle in Paris and a silversmith for Henry van de Velde. His work combined French designs with the hammered surfaces and round shapes of Danish silverware.Read More…
-
J.M van Kempen Dutch Silversmith
J.M. van Kempen was a Dutch silversmith who started a silver factory in Utrecht in 1835 and moved to Voorschoten in 1858. He hired English craftsmen to teach them how to make forks and spoons, and a separate studio was set up to make sculptures and silverwork parts. He didn’t hire outside artists until the…
-
Bertel Gardberg (1916 – 2007) Finnish Jeweller and Metalworker
Bertel Gardberg was a Finnish jeweller and metal worker. Between 1938-1941 he studied at Taideteollin Korkeaukoulu, Helsinki. He began his working life in Copenhagen. Gardberg moved to Helsinki where he maintained a studio between 1949-1966. He was responsible for stainless steel and silver designs produced by the Georg Jensen Solvsmedie; Galeries Lafayette department store, Paris…
-
Julius Olaf Randahl (1880 – 1972) Swedish silversmith
In 1901, he moved to New York and worked for Tiffany and Gorham Manufacturing. In 1907, he worked at the Kalo Shop in Chicago before opening his own Randahl Shop in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1911.Read More →
-
Marius Hammer (1847 – 1927) Norwegian silversmith
Hammer was head of one of Norway’s largest silversmithies. He was best known for his plique-a-jour enamelled spoons popular with tourists and exported in large quantities. He produced the ‘Norwegian brilliant enamel work’ spoons offered in the 1896 and 1898 Christmas catalogues of Liberty, London. Read More →
-
Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) Italian sculptor, furniture designer
Harry Bertoia was a sculptor, printmaker, jeweller, and furniture designer. He was born in San Lorenzo, Udine, and worked in the United States professionally. During World War Two he worked with Ray and Charles Eames on moulded-plywood technology. He worked primarily as a sculptor from the mid-1950s onwards. His sculpture was prominently featured in many…
-
Borje Rajalin (b.1933) Finnish Jewellery Designer
Borje Rajalin is a Finnish Jewellery Designer. Rajalin worked at Bertel Gardberg’s silversmith from 1952 – 1956. His design work included technical equipment, plastic fittings, cutlery, stainless steel table and cookware and with Anti Nurmesniemi in 1972 a train for the Helsinki Railway. They collaborated with station designers to make the metro stations modern and…
-
Georg Arthur Jensen silverware designer and manufacturer
Georg Jensen was a Danish metalworker. He was born in Faavad. He was apprenticed as a goldsmith. cl895-1901, he studied sculpture, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, Copenhagen. Read More →
-
Alma Eikerman (1908 – 1995) American jewellery designer and silversmith
Alma Eikerman (1908 – 1995) was an American jewellery designer and silversmith. Eikerman was born in Pratt, Kansas, and graduated from Kansas State College in Emporia with a B.Sc. in 1934 and an M.Sc. in 1942. Read More →
-
Christian Dell (1893 – 1974) German metalworker designer
Christian Dell (1893–1974) was a German silversmith. Dell was born in Hesse’s Offenbach am Main. In the 1920s, Dell ran the metal workshop at the Bauhaus University, and his designs are, in line with the Bauhaus style, characterised by modern shapes and functionality. After his successful stint as an industrial designer, Dell returned in the…
-
Franz Rickert (1904-1991) German Silversmith
He worked as a silversmith from 1926 and became one of the most important silversmiths in Munich and an outstanding enameler. 1935-72, he taught at the Staatsschule (later Akademie) fur angewandte Kunst in Munich. In the 1950s and 1960s, he designed numerous religious objects.Read More →
-
Harold Stabler (1872 – 1945) British ceramicist, enameller, jeweller and silversmith
Harold Stabler’s lengthy, illustrious career began in the Arts and Crafts movement and extended into the modernist era. Over the 50 years or so he devoted to the arts, he created an astounding diversity of highly regarded pieces, both unique and mass-produced, in various mediums and styles. Read More →
-
Emmy Roth (1885 – 1942) German / Israeli Silversmith
In 1916, she established her workshop in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Her early work was influenced by the Baroque, but her later work was more straightforward, as evidenced by her fruit dish in The Studio, 1929.Read More →
-
Gunilla Jung (d. 1939) Finnish silversmith and lighting designer
Gunilla Jung was a glass and lighting artist and Silversmith. She designed glassware for Karhula (later Iittala) in the 1930s at the Institute of Applied Arts in Helsinki. Maybe best known for her pioneering lighting projects, such as in Helsinki’s Savoy Theatre. Taito created her first silver designs and, later in the 1930s, others by…
-
Arne Jacobsen (1902 – 1971) Danish architect and furniture designer
In 1927, Jacobsen established his practice in Hellerup. He was Denmark’s first exponent of Functionalism, influenced by Modern architecture of the 1930s, such as Le Corbusier, Gunnar Asplund, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. His first significant assignment was the Bellavista housing complex in Copenhagen, which he completed between 1930 and 1934.Read More →
-
Carlo Guiliano (1831 – 1895) Italian Goldsmith and Jeweller
Carlo Guiliano was an Italian jeweller and goldsmith who was born in Naples and worked in London. In 1860, Guiliano settled in London and worked for Harry Emanuel. He collaborated with Castellani Italian Jewellers on at least one piece of jewellery. In the archaeological or Etruscan style, he was a talented jeweller. He developed his…
-
Jean Puiforcat (1897 – 1945) French Art Deco Silversmith
His silver work was based on the geometric series and had smooth surfaces. Pieces were embellished with ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli, and rosewood. He also used gilding.Read More →
-
Erik Magnussen (1884 – 1961) Danish silversmith and designer
Danish silversmith of Art Deco and Cubist works Erik Magnussen was a silversmith and designer from Denmark. He lived in the United States from 1925 to 1939, first as artistic director of the Gorham Manufacturing Company in New York City and subsequently with his workshop in Chicago and Los Angeles.Read More →
-
Lino Sabattani (1925 – 2016) Italian Metal Smith
Sabbatini worked as a silversmith from a very early age. He learned metalworking techniques and became interested in shapes derived from natural materials. The Boule teapot and example of his early work was designed for T. Wolff in Germany.Read More →
-
Robert Welch (1929 – 2000) English designer and silversmith
He studied painting at the Malvern School of Art under Victor Moody from 1946 to 1947 and 1949 to 1950. Silversmithing at Birmingham College of Art between 1950 and 1952. Between 1952 and 1955, he studied silversmithing at the Royal College of Art in London, mentored by Robert Gooden.Read More →
-
Torolf Prytz (1858 – 1938) Norwegian Architect & Designer
He began working with goldsmith Oluf Tostrup, the son of goldsmith Jacob Tostrup and co-owner of J. Tostrup. When Oluf Tostrup died in 1882, Prytz became formally associated with J. Tostrup. He was advanced from head designer to co-owner in 1884, after two years of study. Prytz purchased the entire company after Jacob Tostrup died…
-
Carl-Gustaf Jahnsson (1935 – 1994) Swedish silversmith and designer
Designer of iKea Dragon Cultery Carl-Gustaf Hallberg Jahnsson (1935-1994) was a Swedish silversmith and designer.Read More →
-
Omar Ramsden (1873 – 1939) British Silver designer
He was a leading silverware designer and manufacturer in England. He lived on Fir Street in Walkley, Sheffield, Yorkshire but worked in London for most of his career.Read More →
-
Frantz Hingelberg Danish Silversmiths
Frantz Hingelberg Silversmiths, founded in 1897, transformed from a local venture to a renowned enterprise recognized for innovation and excellence in gold and silver craftsmanship in Denmark. Successive generations developed relationships and expanded styles, bringing modern aesthetics to traditional techniques. The firm has international recognition and notably services the Royal Danish Court.Read More →
You may also be interested in
Derby Silver Company an American Silversmith
Derby Silver Company was an American silversmith located in Derby, Connecticut. It was founded in 1873 and specialised in silverplated hollow-ware. U.S. Patent No. 15,642, June 26, 1888, registered by Watson J. Miller and Henry Berry for M & B sterling trademark for forks, spoons, tea sets, brushes, mirrors and pitchers.
10 pieces of Jewellery in the Art Nouveau Style – Encyclopedia of Design
Art Nouveau was an international style of design and architecture. Idiosyncratic and romantic the Art Nouveau style derived from the vestiges of academic classicism of the École des Beauz-Arts, Paris and the study of plant forms. Between 1880 and 1910, the Art Nouveau movement was influential throughout Europe and to a lesser degree in the United States.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.