LIVE 24-SEVEN


A BUY E R’ S GUIDE STUART DEVLIN SILVER


Stuart Devlin ranks as one of the greatest contemporary gold and silversmiths in the world. Throughout his long and distinguished career he has received international acclaim and his peers at the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths describe him as the designer with the ‘Midas touch'.


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Will Farmer is our antiques & collectors expert, he is well known for his resident work on the Antiques Roadshow, he has also written for the popular ‘Miller’s Antique Guide’. Those in the know will have also come across him at ‘Fieldings Auctioneers’. We are delighted that Will writes for Live 24-Seven, he brings with him a wealth of knowledge and expertise.


In the sixties and seventies some silversmiths were becoming increasingly disenchanted with designing anonymously for big manufacturing firms and made moves to set out on their own. They focused on their own style and had a personal commitment to the marketing of their own productions. Amongst the most successful in this break from tradition was Stuart Devlin, whose work would come to epitomise the look and feel of post war silver design.


Though Stuart Devlin based his career in London, he is proudly Australian, having once famously commented: “Apart from the obvious reason that London is the best place for a silversmith to become known…my acceptance here reassures people in Australia that Australians are capable of international success.”


Despite the international renown in which he is held, Devlin is actually a man of modest beginnings. He grew up in Geelong, a working-class town south-west of Melbourne, in a poor but respectable family. His father was a perfectionist home painter and decorator, while his mother instilled a strong work ethic in her four children.


Devlin’s rare combination of talent and industry was soon apparent. At school he became head prefect and was encouraged by teachers to aim high. He soon chose a career in metalwork, winning a scholarship at the age of just 13 and in his third year of secondary education chose to become an art teacher. He obtained a post with Melbourne College where he completed a three-year Diploma of Art in just one year part-time, winning the highest marks ever awarded. This record enabled him to receive three scholarships to study at London’s Royal College of Art where he was the only student to obtain two honours diplomas after only two years of study.


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BUYERS GUIDE S TUAR T DE VL IN


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