Kevin Grey

Silversmith

From luxury cars to silver sculpting

Kevin used to make parts for Rolls Royce and Bentley
He combines traditional and industrial techniques
The simplicity of 1960s Danish design informs his work

For over 25 years Kevin Grey worked in factories making metal parts for luxury cars, but as the industry became less about human skill and more about machines, Kevin felt a desire to return to making things by hand. So he decided to give up his job and retrain as a silversmith. “It just felt right,” he says, and indeed it was the right decision, since he is now one of the UK’s foremost silver sculptors. Working out of his studio in the famous Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, the home of British jewellery making for hundreds of years, he has won the prestigious Goldsmith Company Award three times.

Interview

How did working in the car industry influence you?: It was great for problem-solving. Everything had to be absolutely perfect. A lot of the things we made weren’t inspected, so you had to have self-discipline. If you knew it wasn’t right, you had to make sure you made it right. It was good training.
What was the first object you made as a silversmith?: It was quite a simple shape. I didn’t want to use traditional silversmithing techniques because that’s been done, so I decided to laser-weld strips of silver. Nobody had done that before and it caused a bit of a stir! Once I had discovered that technique I wondered where it could go.
Where do you get your ideas from?: Perhaps something on the radio – I listen to lectures on science, astrophysics – or something I’ve read, or it could be a feeling. If I come up with something I think ‘how am I going to make that?’ When I find the answer, I just want to make it, nothing will stop me.
What does fine craftsmanship mean to you?: It’s making something to the highest standards. If you know something isn’t quite right you have to push yourself to make the best thing you can. In the car industry I would look at someone doing an amazing job and think ‘I want to know how to do that’.

Kevin Grey is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2009