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Contemporary Design in Silver and Metalwork - Artists Showcase in Galvanize

By , About.com Guide

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Watching an Artist at Work
Contemporary Design in Silver and Metalwork - Artists Showcase in Galvanize

Designer Silversmith Katey Felton describes the process of hand-hammering a cup, part of a set designed to resemble a disco mirror ball, and using tools she made herself. Cup on the left was Felton's contribution to the Millennium Punchbowl set.

©Ferne Arfin; cup photo courtesy of Katey Felton
Designer-silversmith Katey Felton studied art, design and silversmithing in Lincoln, Manchester and Birmingham before arriving in Sheffield to take up the two-year Silversmithing Starter Studio program at the city's purpose build studio center, Persistence Works.

The program is one way that Sheffield continues to foster the metalworking crafts for which it is known. Two graduate designer-silversmiths a year are invited to take part in the program, through which they have shared use of a large metalworking studio and its equipment, time to gather and make their own silversmithing tools and a chance to be mentored by more established artists. Young designers in the program also have opportunities to submit their designs for important institutional commissions.

Felton is now an established, Sheffield-based silversmith. When we visited her studio in Persistence Works she was completing a commission for a cocktail set of ice bucket and cups, shaped to resemble a disco mirror ball. Her work includes contemporary silverware, corporate awards and ecclesiastic objects.

Find out more about Katey Felton and see examples of her work.

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