Glittering summer for jewellery designer

Roger Morris, Course Director of Jewellery and Metal Design within the School of Design at Duncan of Jordanstone College has been dazzling exhibitions across Europe this summer with his pioneering jewellery techniques and designs.

Roger, who mixes his own design work with his teaching duties, has had his work on display this year at exhibitions in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands and has been featured in two prestigious European jewellery magazines.

'It has been quite an interesting summer, 'he said. 'I combine my research with private practice so I'm continually exhibiting but earlier this year I had a stand at Inhorgenta 2008 in Munich, which is considered to be one of the most prestigious gold fair in the world'

'It is quite a challenge to get accepted but I was eventually short listed for the designer of the year award and consequently selected pieces were separately displayed with all the other short listed artists.'

'Inhorgenta provides the best opportunity to meet European gallery owners and at the close of the show I accepted offers to exhibit with two renowned establishments.'

One was at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Laren near Amsterdam and then the G de Joies Gallery in Barcelona offered me a solo show which ran from May until August.

'I was given about 80% of the Gallery space in Barcelona so was able to exhibit quite a range of pieces, mainly rings and brooches. Attending the private view was a rather special experience and great platform to introduce the work in Spain.'

'Also this year I had a number of pieces of work purchased by the Houston Museum of Fine Art as part of the Helen Williams Drutt Collection and that is now touring museums throughout the USA in an exhibition entitled Ornament as Art'.

Roger also has pieces in permanent exhibitions in a number of locations including the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the National Gallery of Melbourne, The Royal Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh and the Crafts Council of Great Britain in London.

Roger's international profile has been given a further boost by a five-page feature in Arte y Joya, a European jewellery magazine and another major feature in Schmuck, one of Germany's leading jewellery magazines.

The design media's interest in his work stems mainly from his creative use of innovative new jewellery practices.

'I have researched a number of new techniques,' he explained. 'One is a way of clamping stones in position in a piece of jewellery. Normally stones are held in place with claws, or with a rub over setting, but this technique I feel makes the refraction much more powerful and really makes the stone seem more alive.'

'Another researched technique is the application of a laser that transfers fine drawn images into acrylic sheet which is then filled with contrasting resin. The resulting graphic images are then embellished with gold panels and wire structures that compliment the illustration. These tend to result in designs for either brooches or earrings.'

Roger, who joined Duncan of Jordanstone in 1984, is hoping to spend more time designing and working on his jewellery creations in the future. To that end he has decided to step down from his current position and continue teaching on a part-time basis.

'I'm hoping to shift the balance of my work away from teaching and more towards private practice and research," he said. "I had a jewellery business before I came into teaching and I have always tried to maintain both the designing and making aspects of my work whilst at the college.'

'I'm a firm believer that art and design teachers should practice what they preach. I don't see how you can teach something if you are not actually maintaining your own creative design and making skills.'

'I also really enjoy what I do. It is a passion of mine. I take pleasure in coming up with a visual concept and then applying the skills base that I have accumulated over the years. Another pleasure is sourcing and working with a variety of precious materials, in particular the unique stones that are incorporated and become an integral element within the designs. It is also wonderful working with the beautiful and subtle ranges of coloured golds that contrast vividly with both the stones and in particular the acrylic'.

For more information about Roger's work visit his website at: http://www.rogermorris.eu.