Catching Up With Jeweller and Timepiece Maker Louise Parry

Louise is a silversmith and jewellery designer who creates highly individual jewellery and timepieces in gold, silver, platinum and palladium. Her 2016 QEST Scholarship funded a two-week residential course on Shetland with QEST Scholar Rod Kelly to further develop her silversmithing skills. Here she tells us more about her career and work.

I set up my own business as a jewellery and silverware designer as soon as I graduated from the Birmingham School of Jewellery in 1987. While visiting a clock exhibition at the then Cirencester Workshops I was offered the chance to share a studio in the same building and fell in love with the idea.

I have always held a fascination for all things clockwork, whether an antique pocket watch or an old tin racing car that I used to have. However, my first watch purchase was a quartz Swatch in the 80s. I was lucky enough to visit the Swatch factory in my final year at college and was intrigued by the production process, however the opportunities for moving into horology were not as exciting as they are now and I did not consider it as an option.

My passion for clocks was reignited when I bought a very beautiful antique chiming clock from an auction fifteen years ago. This lead on to the development of a range of clocks starting with the ‘Crossing Time’ Clock in 2009. Built in silver and 18ct gold and set with diamonds this first clock was designed as jewellery for the interior. It won several awards and received a huge amount of attention when it was first exhibited at Goldsmiths’ Fair in London. At the time I was having old carriage clock mechanisms renovated, however I have since moved to having new movements hand made in Britain with the help of a local clock restorer and consultation from Jeremy Hobbins in the Horology department at the Birmingham School of Jewellery. I progressed from large timepieces onto pocket watches and then wristwatches. My jewellery design business had really become successful when I started to design pieces that suited the corporate woman, making understated but stylish gold and silver jewellery that women could wear to work with a suit, but also casually. I built up a large and loyal following of clients who would purchase new items every year.

While having a portrait taken of myself for a magazine, I removed my Casio Baby G-Shock watch as it did not go with the ‘Louise Parry’ jewellery I was wearing, and it was then that I realised that there was a huge gap in the market for an unusual artisan-made designer watch, that reflected the wearer’s jewellery.

I take on new challenges every year to increase my product ranges but also to further my abilities as an independent maker. Clock and watch cases can be incredibly complicated structures to build in precious metals, as what can start off as a perfectly accurate handmade piece can be rendered useless as the central structure can easily warp with overheating or movement while working the piece. I find that the incredible discipline that goes into making a timepiece has fed into the quality and precision of my jewellery – which I think improves in it’s craftsmanship every year because of the mindsets that I have built in clock and watchmaking.

Clocks are slightly easier to build than watches because I have found that robust mechanical movements will have a certain amount of tolerance compared to a tiny quartz mechanism, which has none. For example, I didn’t know that using powerful glues near such mechanisms would ruin tiny quartz movements when I first started and learnt a hard (and expensive) lesson!

Good lathe turning skills were initially crucial in my work and I will still build much of a timepiece on a Myford Super Seven lathe which has the power required for my work. Its versatility has massively increased my skill set – I can turn large as well as tiny dials, cases and jewellery settings on it with ease with the help of some additional adapters built by an engineer in Kent. Due to the precision needed I also work with a local engineering company using CNC machines and 3D printing which has been something essential for new product development.

Working with their factory opened my eyes to new ways of production and made me more determined to get every part of my timepieces, including the movements, made in Britain. A tough call in these present times! I use a brilliant spinner in Birmingham who has years of knowledge from working for many of the high-end luxury brands in London.

My clock designs have evolved and become more intricate as my skills have developed. These skills have been tested even further as I have moved into making larger clock designs. My QEST Scholarship with Rod Kelly led onto producing ‘ribbing‘ into textured silver sheet, combined with the incorporation of enamel after a week spent with enamellist Ruth Ball. The ‘Ribbed Enamel Clock’ was sold on its first exhibition on the first day of Goldsmiths Fair. Following that I received a Future Icons accessories award for my ‘Square Round’ clock and was fortunate to be mentored by Louise Pacifico of ‘Future Icons’ who helped me to clarify the move into larger works with perhaps a move into shows such as Decorex, as well as hopefully further chances to exhibit at Goldsmiths’ Fair.

Over the past three years I have been exploring ideas for a range of wall clocks. My first chiming wall clock was completed in 2021 and marks the start of a move into designing and constructing chiming clocks for modern interiors that are viewed as functioning works of art.

Textured surfaces of silver and gold set with diamonds are very distinctive to my work. Lines cut through the form of the timepieces, producing a crisp but soft look.

Inspired by the Bauhaus School and painters such as Kandinsky, I have been working with less gold in the pieces and minimal ‘pops’ of colour to draw the eye, while considering the changing shadows of light as a timepiece is viewed from different points of a room. I enjoy observing the interaction people demonstrate with traditional clock movements. The act of winding a mechanical clock has an appeal that bonds people to their clocks. The changing appearance of light and shade on a wall clock, the warm sound of a striking bell in a house and that personal connection make a lifelong commitment that owners of these clocks never tire of and turns them into future family heirlooms.

Larger silversmithing projects come with their own set of construction difficulties to overcome as the larger the piece the more the silver warps and misbehaves! Mechanical clocks have a unique appeal of their own and I have been looking at the sound a chiming mechanism makes when you put it in a combination of wood and silver ..it is a tricky one to get right!

I was lucky enough to attend a Contemporary British Silversmiths hinge making course with Ray Walton this year which has proved very rewarding as I have been striving to produce a beautifully constructed silver and glass door for my front winding clock. We are very fortunate in this country to have such a broad depth of skills available from traditionally trained makers such as Ray and the knowledge I gained will greatly improve some of the finer details in my clock designs.