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Polly Gasston

Polly Gasston FRSA is a British Goldsmith.

Biography

Early Life

Polly Gasston was born and spent her early years in Kenya, East Africa. She was fascinated by jewellery from a young age which began when her mother let her empty the content of her jewellery box on the Persian rug beside her bed. She started to learn the names and composition of each item off by heart fostering a lifeong interest and later, Polly's father began a tradition of giving her a book about gold for every birthday.

Polly came to the UK to study for her A Levels. Following this she completed a 4-year course at Sir John Cass College of Art (which is now the London Metropolitan University) and worked in Hatton Garden, the home of the UK diamond industry, for 7 years as a jeweller where she learned, among other things, the perfection of complex metal piercing. After leaving Hatton Garden she did not return to jewellery making until 30 years later in 2007.

2007 - Present Day

Polly eventually returned to the bench in 2007 but decided she would specialise in one area instead of returning to her life as a jobbing jeweller. Her experience as a metalworker led her to the decision to work only with 22ct gold and semi-precious stones some of which include Labradorite, Amethyst, Aquamarine, Carnelian, Tourmaline, Lapis Lazuli and Turquoise.

In 2009 Polly was invited to join the Who's Who of Gold and Silver, a directory of British Goldsmiths published by the Goldsmiths' Company.

In 2011 Polly was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts, later admitting in an interview for the London Metropolitan University website that "Nothing could have surprised more"

In March 2012 Polly was commissioned to create a work for the World Gold Council to be displayed at the Gold: Power and Allure exhibition at Goldsmiths' Hall in London - an ehibition of the work of British goldsmiths from the last 4500 years. She created Wreath, a 22ct gold ivy wreath in the Hellenistic style with interwoven gold buttercups, using a number of traditional metal working techniques.

The Gasson Family History

Not much is known about the early Gasstons except that they were Huguenot silversmiths from Gascony in France. According to Polly, they came to England after the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 settling in the Shoreham area of Sussex. It was known that they were shipbuilders and later became seamen on trading ships. The majority of the family was lost in a disastrous shipwreck towards the middle of the nineteenth centry leaving only Polly's great-grandfather, Alfred, alive. Alfred was left ashore because he had contracted chicken pox and it was thought likely that he would die at sea. His son and Polly Grandfather, also named Alfred, joined the Royal Navy as an Engineer in 1941 aged 18 and later become a silversmith and calligrapher, teaching at the Brighton School of Art. He was a talented craftsman who was ambidextrous and would delight his grandchildren by writing and drawing with both hands together, producing text and images that were perfect when looked at in the mirror. When Polly, at the age of six, proclaimed her intention to become a goldsmith he took her seriously only insisting later on that she should finish her education first.

External LInks

Official Website