21 August 2024
Kier Alexander
Some of the most compelling silver ever made was not created for ceremonial occasions but for daily use. Tankards, cutlery, tea services and candlesticks were essential household objects, yet in the hands of great silversmiths and designers they became more than functional utensils: they were exercises in craft, innovation and aesthetic ambition.
To see why these objects last, we need to look at the techniques that made them strong as well as beautiful.
Traditional silversmithing began with hammering sheets of silver into form, a process known as raising. It required precision to create seamless vessels - mugs, bowls, teapots - with the strength to withstand daily use. The hammer marks left beneath the polish spoke of the maker’s skill. When later designers like Charles Rennie Mackintosh engaged with silver, they drew on these same principles, producing works of austere beauty that highlighted proportion and line as much as ornament.
Utilitarian silver was also enlivened with surface decoration. Chasing added relief patterns, while engraving supplied initials, borders, or crests. For many households this meant simple embellishment, but for modern designers it became a way of transforming utility into art. Christopher Dresser, one of the most influential figures in late 19th-century design, pared decoration back to essentials. His silver for firms such as Hukin & Heath emphasised clarity of form and efficiency of use, bringing design reform ideals into everyday objects.
Modern Movements: From Jensen to Devlin
The 20th century saw utilitarian silver reinterpreted again. Georg Jensen, the Danish master, made flatware and hollowware that fused Scandinavian simplicity with organic detail, proving that spoons and serving pieces could be both functional and sculptural. Later, Stuart Devlin introduced a very different sensibility: bold textures, gilded interiors, and playful forms that made even salt cellars and boxes objects of delight. Both designers understood that durability need not preclude imagination, and that daily objects could carry the signature of their age.
Across centuries, silversmiths have wrestled with the same challenge: how to make objects that withstand constant handling while reflecting the aesthetic ideals of their time. Whether in the restrained lines of Mackintosh, the reforming clarity of Dresser, the organic modernism of Jensen, or the textured exuberance of Devlin, utilitarian silver demonstrates how design met durability and how the everyday could become extraordinary.
At Lyon & Turnbull, utilitarian silver is regularly offered in our decorative arts and silver sales. From early household cutlery and domestic vessels to twentieth-century design pieces, these objects remind us that the craft of silver lies not only in the value of its metal but in the skill, imagination, and artistry that transform utility into beauty.
