For anyone who hasn’t been able to visit us yet, we thought it would be nice to give a sneak peek into a Sussex jewellery designers gallery makeover. We have opened up the space between our original gallery and the shop next door to give the gallery an open plan feel (and coincidently plenty of room to social distance!) We have a wonderful new character table as a centrepiece, which can be used to lay out the jewellery you are browsing for a closer look. It also hosts some of our jewellery books – a little insight into the world of a Sussex jewellery designer. Another quirky item on the central table is a small set of drawers made from tobacco tins by Anton’s grandfather Dunstan Pruden.
A big part of the ethos behind the design of the re-fit was to bring some of the textures of the workshop into the gallery space. We wanted to give people an insight into the processes behind our handmade jewellery. One of the ways we achieved this was to use some of our original silversmithing tools in our hammered silver bangle display. On workshop tours people often remark upon the roughness or chunkiness of some of our tools compared with the fineness of the finished results, and in many ways that is part of the magic of jewellery making.
Sussex Jewellery Designers Gallery Makeover: Dunstan’s Workbench
Dunstan Pruden’s original workbench has returned to Pruden and Smith! The workbench was originally situated at The Guild of St Joseph and St Dominic, on Ditchling Common. Anton’s grandfather Dunstan Pruden was a member of the guild, founded in the early 1920s, alongside other prominent names in the Arts and Crafts movement, such as sculptor & typographer Eric Gill, and painter & poet David Jones. Another of Dunstan’s fellow guild members, Philip Hagreen, produced a wood engraving of Dunstan’s Workshop, c.1933, that shows the workbench in situ. The original wood block forms part of the collection at Ditchling Museum of Art + Craft. Before returning to us, Dunstan’s workbench was also at the museum, where a wonderful selection of Dunstan’s tools and work are still on display – to discover more about Dunstan Pruden and Ditchling’s rich art and craft heritage, plan your visit to the museum here.
This characterful workbench is now a consultation area in our new gallery. We think it’s wonderful that this lovely piece of our history can now play host to discussions that lead to new family heirlooms being created, or old one’s being re-invigorated. If you’d like to have a new bespoke jewellery design created or your old jewellery redesigned, book an appointment with one of our designers here.
In order to make the shopping experience as safe and comfortable as possible, shopping sessions are bookable in hourly slots Tuesday to Saturday 12am to 4pm for individuals or family/bubble groups of up to four people. This enables us to clean the display area and any jewellery handled between visits. Book your shopping visit here. We look forward to seeing you soon.
