David Watkins

This book represents the first retrospective in print on the fascinating work of the English artist in jewellery David Watkins, who started out as a jazz pianist and sculptor but has been designing jewellery since the 1960s. At the outset of his career, he designed miniature works of sculpture. Later he began producing outsize wearable objects. Watkins is increasingly preoccupied with the interrelationship of the body and jewellery; his pieces of jewellery are becoming autonomous art objects in their own right. David Watkins’s versatility as a jewellery-designer is astonishing: the diverse materials he uses range from paper to acrylic, Neoprene and Colorcore to gold as well as a profusion of plastics. His aesthetic “idiom” encompasses stringent structuring as well as monochrome Minimalism and compositions improvised in stunning forms and vibrant colours. Watkins is equally comfortable working with traditional jewellery-making techniques and computer-aided design as used throughout the manufacturing sector. Drawing on a wealth of photographs, drawings and statements made by the artist himself, the book provides invaluable insights into the way David Watkins works.