Casgliadau Arlein

David Watkins was born in 1940 and studied sculpture at Reading University (1959-63). In 1965, he and Wendy Ramshaw founded the ground-breaking fashion jewellery company "Something Special". His other experiences include Special Effects model making, principally for Stanley Kubrick’s "2001: A Space Odyssey". In the early 1970’s he set up as a studio jeweller and rapidly achieved an international reputation. During the 1980’s he established a second studio/workshop for large-scale forged and fabricated steel, utilising a combination of engineering and hot metal processes for sculpture and public art projects. David Watkins is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers (1984), Freeman (1988) and Liveryman (1989) of the Goldsmiths Company, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (1991). His awards have included a Crafts Advisory Committee bursary (1976), Japan Foundation travel award (1978) and Royal Society of Arts Art for Architecture award (1995). Major retrospective exhibitions of his work were shown at the City Museum and Art gallery, Leeds (1985), the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1986) and the Schmuckmuseum, Pforzheim (1987). As the Head of Department and Professor of Goldsmithing, Silversmithing, Metalwork and Jewellery since 1984 (Royal College of Art), David Watkins has consistently promoted the use of new production and design technologies alongside more traditional processes. Always fascinated by the intersection of technology and aesthetics, the machine and the hand, his career as an innovative jewellery artist has spanned over three decades, with pioneering work in plastics, synthetic coatings, computer-aided design, laser and water-jet cutting technologies.