Stephen Bottomley
Jeweller
Published: 16.10.2019
- Mail:
- stephenbottomley
hotmail.com
Bio
Stephen is a designer-maker, curator and academic.He holds a MPhil (Royal College of Art), on the subject ‘CAD/CAM and the Jeweller, Making with New Technology’ (2001), a MA Design (University of Brighton/ Rhode Island School of Design exchange), a BA Hons 3D-design (West Surrey College of Art and Design) and a BTEC Foundation (Hastings College of Art). Stephen was Professor of Jewellery Cultures and Innovation (2017-22) at Birmingham City University (BCU) as the first inaugural head of the Institute for Jewellery, Fashion and Textiles. He joined in 2017 as Head of School of Jewellery where he authored a successful Queen’s Anniversary Award for Higher Education submission in 2019. Previously Head of Department of Jewellery and Silversmithing at Edinburgh College of Art (2008-17) and Post graduate Design Research co-ordinator (2014-17) post-merger with the University of Edinburgh. Stephen’s jewellery has been widely exhibited and is held in the National Museums of Scotland and British Museum and the Cominelli Foundation Collection, Italy.Statement
My jewellery is rooted equally in the past as the present. I am inspired by historical contexts, origins, and the traditions of the goldsmiths’ craft and how their creative possibilities can be extended by modern technology. Form, pattern,colour, surface, proportion, and rhythm are all important elements in the vocabulary of my jewellery in both precious and non-precious materials. Recent work has evolved from a captivation with vitreous enamel, a long-lasting and intoxicating material with a rich historical tradition but one open to contemporary interpretations through modern applications. I have become entranced by enamel’s ability to transform surfaces through soft saturating colour and the hard brilliance of glass. It possesses the power to animate inert pattern and shape with light, warmth, and reflected movement.CV 
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- Mail:
- stephenbottomleyhotmail.com
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