Adrian completed an Associate Diploma in Arts (Jewellery Design) and a silversmith apprenticeship in his native Australia. He has subsequently worked as a professional commercial silversmith for over twenty years in Australia, the UK and Finland, and won a number of prestigious awards. Now based in the UK, he has recently completed an MA at the Royal College of Art (RCA), London and now plans to expand his historically inspired concept and design development by undertaking a practice-based PhD at the RCA, which will be supported by QEST.
By analysing the cultural influences that contributed to the styles of past masterpieces from the collections of the Goldsmith’s Company, Adrian aims to develop a method of identifying current cultural influences that will be important for developing new styles. For each masterpiece he examines he will use the same influences to transcribe the ideas into a modern contemporary piece in the studio. This will increase his understanding of the influences and how they contribute the making process, and his goal is to then establish himself as a self-employed designer silversmith producing research based artistic silver bridging historical and contemporary contexts.
