Sheffield Assay Office Supports Local Silversmith Students

Sheffield Assay Office have supported students at Sheffield Hallam University for 30 years and this year is no exception as we celebrate our 250th anniversary!

Our Assay Master Ashley Carson was delighted to award two special awards to students at Sheffield Hallam University. Along with Chris Knight, local silversmith, lecturer and Guardian of Sheffield Assay Office, the first Assay Office Silver Award was bestowed upon talented L5 student Nova Smith for her tableware design for a kinetic Candelabra, which she submitted as a working 3D prototype. The design is elegant, yet bold, and lends a certain gravitas to the dining experience, as well as showcasing Nova's playful approach through movement in design. Nova will now work with tutors and specialist metalwork technician Drew Sutherland to develop her design further and reproduce it with silver components and personalised detailing. 

And also celebrating is Freya Liu, who was also awarded the Assay Office Silver Award. Jeff Durber and Chris Knight reviewed applications from three students and were most impressed by Freya’s ambition and her technical competence. Freya is working on a range of collars combining sterling silver with fine glove leather, she is developing the work using Rhino 3D CAD software and has reached the stage of casting prototypes in bronze, to fine tune her approach to soldering complex forms. We are looking forward to seeing finished pieces that have clear commercial potential!

Click here to see Freya's work

Many congratulations to both Nova and Freya.

The Sheffield Assay Office was established in 1773, under an Act of Parliament and today the company assays and hallmarks the precious metals - silver, gold, platinum and palladium. Sheffield Assay Office is one of only four UK assay offices who all work to uphold the Hallmarking Act of 1973 and continue to ensure consumer protection for customers purchasing precious metals.

To find out more about the whole range of services offered by Sheffield Assay Office, such as our hallmarking and analytical services, please email us at info@assayoffice.co.uk or complete the contact form on our website at http://www.assayoffice.co.uk/contact-us ,

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