Meet the metals
Metal is an elemental material. Born of earth, and formed by fire, it can be as hard as steel - or as soft as silver.
Metal has opinion and character, even before it is made into a piece.
This character arises from how metal moves: brass is smooth and buttery, whereas nickel is hard and crisp. It comes from its colour: the rich, red of copper and the matt coolness of pewter, and it comes from the associations we have with it: the industry of iron and steel and the preciousness of silver and gold.
Below, you’ll find reflections, written independently, on how we relate to the materials with which we work. As you’ll see, some coincide absolutely, and some are very different.
Pewter
“Pewter is a grimy metal.” StH
“Pewter is a metal that it is interested in relationship. It is a metal that finds its place in the world through its relationship with to others. It is by far the softest of the metals I work with, and to play with it, dolphin-like, moving fast, weaving in and out, is to work with pewter at its best.” JB
Steel
“Steel is an absolutely accommodating material.” StH
“Steel is a powerful metal. Powerful, of course, in the sense of its strength and industrial applications, but also powerful in itself. Steel has a deep, strong inner sense of itself. Steel challenges itself to become in the world but also holds the world - and the maker - to account.” JB
Silver
“Silver is a democratic material. It only reflects back what you do to it.” StH
“Silver sings. It sings a song of the place where infinity touches the earth: where the purity of that thing that storytelling describes as ‘the soul’ lands into material. It knows much, and tells much to those that will listen. Silver whispers. It whispers of the rustle of white feathers, and the long glide over the surface of the moon. It speaks of travelling far and then of returning home.” JB
Brass
“Brass is a sensitive material.” StH
“I have a soft spot for brass. It’s a very friendly material to work: not standoffish, not remote, but personable in every aspect, full of joy and enthusiasm. Brass is a kind metal that wants to co-operate, that wants to play.” JB
Gilding metal
“Gilding metal - an alloy of zinc and copper - is the workhorse the metal world.” StH
“Gilding metal is a very practical, no nonsense metal. It is a metal that has its feet firmly in the world, and its eyes on the job in hand. You know what you’re getting with gilding metal, and it’s a material that you can rely on.” JB
Aluminium
“Aluminium is envious of silver.” StH
“Aluminium is an other-worldly metal. A metal that is, to my mind, stepped out of time. I have found it a difficult metal with which to build a relationship, but am beginning to understand a little of what it has to say.” JB
Copper
“Copper is like a cat: it has nine lives and always falls on its feet. And it’s ginger.” StH
“On the one hand, copper is a sloppy metal: it is the lazy teenager of the metal world, leaving its clothes all over the floor, rarely washing, and leaving a bit of a smell behind. There is another side to copper though: it is the mother, the metal that births; the compound metals of brass and gilding metal, and, especially when working at larger scale, it is a metal that cares.” JB
Nickel
“Nickel? Nickel is the least co-operative of all of the metals.” StH
“There is no way round nickel being a difficult metal, and that is why I like it. It knows its own mind, but doesn’t like sharing what that mind is. It is unpredictable, stubborn, difficult to move and contrary. Nickel remains unknown, but it is in that unknown-ness that its magic lies.” JB