David Watkins: Artist in Jewellery

For years David Watkins has been a primal force to be reckoned with in contemporary jewellery design, a mover and shaker in this new international medium. This book is just what the retrospective aficionados of art jewellery have been waiting for.

Watkins is the medals designer for the 2012 Olympics in London.

This book represents the first retrospective in print on the fascinating work of the English artist in jewelry David Watkins, who started out as a jazz pianist and sculptor but has been designing jewelry since the 1960s.

At the outset of his career, he designed miniature works of sculpture. Later he began producing outsize wearable objects. Watkins is increasingly preoccupied with the interrelationship of the body and jewelry; his pieces of jewelry are becoming autonomous art objects in their own right.

David Watkins’s versatility as a jewelry-designer is astonishing: the diverse materials he uses range from paper to acrylic, Neoprene and Colorcore to gold as well as a profusion of plastics. His aesthetic ＂idiom＂ encompasses stringent structuring as well as monochrome Minimalism and compositions improvised in stunning forms and vibrant colors. Watkins is equally comfortable working with traditional jewelry-making techniques and computer-aided design as used throughout the manufacturing sector. Drawing on a wealth of photographs, drawings and statements made by the artist himself, the book provides invaluable insights into the way David Watkins works.