Wendy Ramshaw

Bio

Wendy Ramshaw CBE, RDI (1939–2018) was a pioneering UK jewellery designer known for redefining the boundaries between jewellery, sculpture, and design.
She originally studied textiles and illustration, developing her interest in jewellery in the 1960s through designing early collections in Perspex and paper for the vibrant London fashion world of the period with her husband David Watkins. Her rare ability to create new forms of jewellery gained early recognition with purchases by the Goldsmiths Company, London. A major show at Pace Gallery, London in 1970 launched her iconic ring sets, wearable works that formed unified sculptural compositions when stacked on their stands.
Her practice was defined by innovation and a deep engagement with materials, ranging from gold and gemstones to paper, porcelain, and glass. Inspired early on by the Op Art movement and developments in technology and psychology, her work explored movement, modularity, and user interaction, inviting wearers to become part of the creative process.

In 1989 she launched the first edition of Picasso’s Ladies at the Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh: a collection which interpreted the women in Picasso’s life through jewellery, blending narrative and abstraction with poetic elegance. The final collection of 66 works was catalogued in a major book and museum show which toured internationally, including the V&A Museum, London, and the Museum of Art and Design, New York.   

Other major jewellery-focussed installations followed and included Room of Dreams (2002): a multi sensory exploration of jewellery and memory, and Prosperos Table now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Ramshaw also undertook significant public art and architectural commissions, including gates for St Johns College, University of Oxford and The New Edinburgh Gate  in Hyde Park, and a screen for the V&A Museum, London.

Over her career, she held more than 30 solo exhibitions worldwide some held jointly with her husband, artist David Watkins. Ramshaw’s work is held in over 70 major collections across the globe, and she received numerous accolades, including being named a Royal Designer for Industry (2000) and appointed Commander of the British Empire (2003).
/ From Wendy Ramshaw obituary by The Guardian. Jan 2019

Statement

My interest is in the variety of form that can be produced by handling a particular material in a series of different ways. Often my work is constructed from many parts which come together to make a single whole.  I think of the world as made up of tiny elements : millions of single grains of sand that may form a a beach or desert; drops of water to form a river.