In part 14 of this blog series I talked about the piece I commissioned from Aillie Anderson at the Elements Festival in Edinburgh (November 2019). On the same visit I also met Anna Gordon again. I have long been an admirer of her work and had been talking with her at the Crafts Council’s Collect fair I think the previous year, where she had been showing an amazing series of large square brooches, most of which had moving elements. Every one of them would have sat very happily on my lapel (well I guess that goes without saying) and I had been mulling over the idea of which one, then knowing I “shouldn’t really be spending that much on a piece” when there are other - much less beautiful - things to be paid for.

So Anna and I got talking at Elements, where she was showing her work along with other staff from the amazing Glasgow School of Art jewellery department. There were some of the brooches I had seen the like of before, and still my sensible head was saying no you can’t! I then spotted two pairs of ear studs, one pair in a brushed silver and the other oxidised. I wondered how those four put together might look as a smaller version of one of the larger square pieces (they were elements from one of the large pieces). We had a chat about it - as is now customary - and the deal was done. I was on a bit of a roll apparently.

The result is the brooch you can see below and it is stunning. All four square elements move/turn (as illustrated by one on an angle in the image) and it of course attracts a lot of attention - as a piece as lovely as it is - should. It is half oxidised and half plain silver and the making is exquisite, as you will see in the second image of the reverse side. It is a piece of art.

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