About
Russell Lownsbrough is a highly-skilled, innovative, and experienced craftsman. He graduated from the world renowned Central St. Martin's School of Art and Design in 1991. He spent a year running the workshop at Jess James ( the pioneering jewellery boutique ) before becoming self-employed. He is a Fellow of the prestigious Institute of Professional Goldsmiths and has been it's chairman. He has won multiple awards from The Goldsmith's Craft and Design Council as well as other industry bodies. He now judges the competitions he used to enter.
All his work is handmade in England using authentic traditional manufacturing techniques and hallmarked at the London Assay Office. He creates a wide variety of unique one-of-a-kind pieces as well as his collections.
Russell has an extremely broad range of interests which inspire his work. Film, literature, sculpture, mythology, ancient history, natural history, archaeology, illustration, alchemy, oriental and occidental applied arts are but a few of the influences that inform his art. These are distilled in his collections, so that each has it's own ethos and becomes a tiny world replete with it's own strangeness and charm.
He specialises in miniature sculpture, a service he provides to the trade, and over the years this has led to numerous awards and accolades, both for himself and his professional clients. He has collaborated with artists and many of the top designers and jewellery houses in the country, Vivienne Westwood and Garrard being excellent examples. He has written a book on the subject with his friend and colleague Danila Tarcianle FIPG, Waxcarving for Jewellers.
For a while he specialised in body-piercing jewellery and created the world's first complete comprehensive collection of gold body-piercing jewellery, the world's first collection of designer body-piercing jewellery and the world's first bespoke design service for body-piercing jewellery. When Naomi Campbell brought body-piercing to the attention of the world's media, it was with his jewellery in her navel. Amusingly, for a brief period that particular piece of jewellery was in every newspaper and magazine in the country ( and possibly those of several others ) making it one of the most photographed items of jewellery in the world.
His work has been exhibited in Britain and abroad, appeared on television, in films, music videos, on stage, in the Tate Britain, the British Museum and others. It's even inspired a song.
For those who are impressed by this sort of thing, his work has been worn by an extensive list of celebrities. The list is confidential, but includes, film stars, rock stars, sports stars, comedians, models, M.P.s, lords and even royalty.
Unique pieces can be commissioned, as Russell loves to collaborate with clients in order to provide them with a genuine alternative to mass production, so if there's anything you'd like realised or anything on the site you'd like customised, then just get in touch and he'll be happy to discuss it with you. As he often says: "If you can imagine it, I can make it; if you can't imagine it, I can imagine it for you."
