Helen London

As a silversmith specialising in filigree wire work, I aim to combine aesthetic beauty with engineering challenge.  Those aesthetic qualities centre around intense decorative features, of the likes seen in Japanese and Islamic arts and crafts, encompassed by sweeping lines and simplified forms that are informed by Art Nouveau, Expressionism and the natural elements around me.  The human body, antlers, birds and other natural forms with distinct sweeping shapes have all provided starting points for my designs.

Of equal importance and beauty to me however, is the physical process of creation.

I attribute this passion for making to an instinctive nature as humans to use our hands and tools to manipulate mediums.  My earliest memories involve the look and feel of certain materials and objects. I remember lying awake at night as a child, engineering solutions to the construction of go karts and tree houses in my imagination. I feel that there is a deeply inherent desire to create and problem solve in my nature which is further aided by a natural tendency towards intense focus and perfectionism.

I create my intricate silverware and jewellery designs from my home workshop on the edge of the Forest of Dean.  I achieved a BA Hons degree in Silversmithing, Jewellery and Allied Crafts at London Guildhall University in 2005, then went on to complete postgraduate studies at the Bishopsland Educational Trust in Berkshire.  I have previously won the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers Award at The Goldsmith Company’s Craftsmanship and Design Council Awards for my filigree work.