Toby Russell (born 1963)

One of four millennium commissions made by the Goldsmiths’ Company, the bowl sits on the focal point of the 14 polished silver blades which fan out from the base. The blades have been scored, folded and block formed to create an organic, curved “pleated” effect which creates fascinating reflections and shadows. Russell specialises in scoring and folding silver sheet to create dynamic visual forms which evoke cliffs, sand dunes and waves. He comments: “the transition from one plane to another becomes the final piece.”

He is influenced by the post-modernist architect Charles Jencks, who mentions him in his book, The Architecture of the Jumping Universe, first published in 1995: “A new language of form based on fractal design is beginning to permeate our landscape…fractured planes, crystal shapes, forms that catch the light and shadow in brilliant chiaroscuro…Toby Russell…accentuates the same fractured aesthetic by using highly-polished surfaces”.

DT