Artificers' Guild design archive

Founded in 1901 and operating until 1938, The Artificers’ Guild Ltd was one of the few businesses inspired by the ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement (rather than just its aesthetics) to enjoy real commercial success. It produced a wide range of jewellery and objects, ranging from delicate necklaces set with semi-precious stones to substantial silver altar plate. The Goldsmiths’ Company Library & Archive holds around 2,000 original design drawings made for the firm by its designers, providing a rich resource for researchers interested in the decorative arts of the period. 

The designs held in the Archive reveal a firm that was inventive in its use of precious and non-precious materials, and responsive to the changing tastes of its clients. The designs draw on a wide range of influences, including medieval and classical sources, and often incorporate symbolic elements drawn from mythology, mysticism and religion. 

The Guild was founded in 1901 by the artist, metalworker and enameller Nelson Dawson (1859-1942). Bought out in 1903 by the Birmingham entrepreneur Montague Fordham, who made it more commercially viable, it produced jewellery, domestic metalwork, church plate and furnishings, presentation plate and ceramics.

Fordham promoted Edward Spencer (1873-1938), previously Dawson’s principal designer, to be Director of the Guild’s workshop in Hammersmith. Many of the drawings in the Archive are signed or initialled by Spencer. They range from finely rendered, colourful presentation drawings to working drawings with annotations that give indications of price and alterations. As well as Spencer, the Guild also employed other designers, and the collection includes a significant number of designs by the architect and designer John Houghton Maurice Bonnor (1875-1917). 

With a showroom on Maddox Street, off Regents Street, at its peak the Artificers’ Guild employed over 40 people, including a large number of skilled craftspeople, many of whom would have been trained in the Guild’s workshop. The firm closed in 1938 following the death of Edward Spencer.

The 21st century resurgence of interest in the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau has seen recognition of this firm as an important producer of jewellery and metalwork. Examples of pieces by the firm and its designers can be found in museum collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum.

The Library & Archive gratefully acknowledges the work of the late Muriel Wilson and the late Anne Shannon, who catalogued the Artificers’ Guild Drawings in the early 2000s.

What to expect when using the records

When booking your appointment with the Library, please let us know you’re researching the Artificers’ Guild and let us know the kind of research you’re doing – for example, whether you are carrying out general research or trying to find the design for a specific object.

Designs are divided into portfolios by object type (for example: rings, pendants, brooches), and will be brought up to the Library reading room by library staff on request.

Researchers can also view a paper catalogue which describes designs individually.

Please note, due to the fragile nature of the archive, you will be supervised when accessing the material.

We look forward to your visit!