... this blogger gave to thee...
... four silly socks...
... three Etsy shops...
... two tuneful gizmos...
... and a great soup for cold winter days.
It's weird how things work out. Months ago when I started trying to come up with ideas and start writing the 12 Days posts, and for the 5th day, which I always find difficult, I thought it might be a good idea to highlight the work of a jeweller who I've always counted as one of my favourites. But then, I of course decided it might be boring just looking at one designer...
... today, as I'm flailing around trying to choose five gold rings and all the links and attributions I can find, I discovered that at the beginning of December, the designer, whose rings I adore and I always go back too as jewellery I admire, had passed away.
Wendy Ramshaw passed away on December 9th, at the age of 79, after an illustrious career as a jewellery designer and artist in her own right, as well as collaboratively with her husband, sculptor David Watkins. Her career took off in the 1960's when Mary Quant began selling Ramshaw's brightly coloured, floral, self-assembly paper jewellery in her stores. However by the mid-sixties Ramshaws' signature style stacked rings and storage system, had already begun to develop and gained her accolades, the novelty of this means of displaying and storing jewellery won her the Design Council Award for Innovation in 1972.
Sea Glass Ring Set (7 Part) | 6 x 18ct Yellow Gold with Frosted White and Green Sea Glass, 1 x Silver Ring with Pale Cream Enamel on Delrin Stand with Green Inlay {photo William Van Esland}
These are the pieces which have resonated with me, as long as I can remember. Ramshaw's ring stacks, are still innovative now, but I think my love for them stems from something a little further back in my history than university.
When I was little, my whole family would go to a little town called Carradale, on the West Coast of Scotland and rent a house for the holidays. We did this multiple times over my childhood and we stayed in the same house, in the same rooms and we did the same activities: walks in the wood, days of the beach and spending time together as a family. One of these trips is where I remember going into a jewellers for the first time and being kind of desperate to see what happened in the workshop and not just wanting to peer at the pretty things in the cabinets. Cabinets I was probably only just tall enough to look into.
I remember this jewellers for three other reasons, I remember the walk. We went full circle from the house we stayed in, to the beach, we walked from one end to the other and then to the road where the jewellers was before going back to the house via the road. I vaguely remember having an umbrella in hand and dad showing us jellyfish, lying on the beach as we walked between them. I remember that the jewellers was covered in passion flowers, which I'd never seen before and they were beautiful and alien to me, and I've loved them ever since. And I remember my parents buying my gran a little trio of stacked rings. They were just thin silver bands of round wire, each with a different coloured little gemstone in it, the only one I remember for sure being amethyst, my grans birthstone. My gran wore these for years, and I'm ashamed to say that she stopped because I've always been too much of a coward to repair the one whose band broke. I think a little bit of me would crumble if I destroyed it completely.
Woman Leaning On Her Elbow (9 Set) | 18ct Yellow Gold Geometric Rings with one Moonstone {Photo by William Van Esland}
Those rings were always my favourites of hers. They were small and delicate stacked rings, which you could switch around and reorder where the pretty stones sat*, and when I think about stacked rings, I think about them and I think Wendy Ramshaw. I think about her beautiful gemstone ring sets, which are given such grandeur by being placed upon their specially turned stands, which makes them pieces of art as well as jewellery.
Pillar Rings (4 Part) | Inlaid 18ct Yellow Gold
Today we don't really think about stacked rings as being particularly special. So many people layer rings and design with this in mind, but Ramshaw was pioneering in the now so replicated fashion trend. However, in many respects it's the stands that make her designs unique and this is why I love them so dearly.
Midnight 2 Ringset (4 Part) | 18ct Yellow Gold, Lapis Lazuli & Shapes, Blue Inlaid Stand {Photo by William Van Esland}
Strong Rainbow (9 Set) | 18ct Yellow Gold, Fire Opal, Agatte, Appertite, Ruby, Garnet, Iolite, Tourmaline, Emerald with Inlaid Brass Stand (Detail)
I hate that jewellery, something someone has taken such care designing and making, which is given or bought with love and for enjoyment, gets hidden away in a box in drawer. Even more so when you want to protect it and keep it good. We hide this form of art because it's precious, but then we can't fully enjoy it.
Wendy Ramshaw, genuinely has inspired me since early on in university, specifically our 3rd year** cultural design project, when I designed a ring set based on Russian architecture and rings...
I am sad about her passing, but she's still an inspiration, and working a means of display is something I think all jewellers should think about.
If you'd like to learn more about Ramshaw, I've left some links at the foot of my post, but if you're specifically looking for examples of her ring sets, may I suggest the second link for the Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, as they hold a very good example of her collected work.
Happy New Year & Merry Christmas! Part six soon...
*As I remarked in my 3rd Day post on Etsy shops and the work of Fiona Findlay (Stoneware Studios U.K.) in particular, I find something incredibly compelling and comforting in objects which fit together as part of their design.
** I'd like to note that third year was also only really my second year of jewellery, first year at Duncan of Jordanstone is General Course, in which you do a bit of everything (EVERYTHING!). The last three (or maybe it was six) weeks of the course is allocated for specialising in up to three different areas. I started with a stint in jewellery, textiles and graphic design. After week one of jewellery I was hooked and that was that until graduation.
Link || Wendy Ramshaw & David Watkins Official Website
Link || Wendy Ramshaw at the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Link || Wendy Ramshaw Obituary via The Times
Link || Wendy Ramshaw Obituary via The Telegraph
Link || Wendy Ramshaw Obituary via The Goldsmiths' Company
Link || Wendy Ramshaw via Wikipedia
Link || Wendy Ramshaw at the Electrum Gallery via The Jewellery Editor
Link || Benchpeg Q & A
Link || Exhibition Traces Career of Wendy Ramshaw by Caroline Palmer (05/11/2015) via Financial TimesLink || Wendy Ramshaw CBE via Mobilia Gallery
Link || Wendy Ramshaw: The Inventor Scottish Gallery Online Catalogue via Issuu
Link || Pillar Ring Set via Crafts Council
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Listening: The Greatest - Cat Power
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