I was first introduced to Sheng Zhang and his work at New Designers in 2016 as he was graduating from Birmingham School of Jewellery’s BA - along side Becky who I introduced in my last post. However here I missed the boat and didn’t buy a piece. Why? I don’t know really - I was probably being over sensible and continually regretted it afterwards. At the time Sheng was making brooches out of base metal and they were, as is his trademark, beautifully executed: clean, precise and elegant.
I next encountered him at New Designers ‘One Year In’ the following summer of 2017, by which time he had further developed his range and was now working in silver. Again I didn’t buy. It’s starting to sound as if I didn’t really like the work isn’t it - but that wasn’t the case at all. I think this time it was all about indecision - which is another trait I suffer. Too many to choose from and all lovely.
Sheng had moved from Birmingham to Edinburgh to embark on the MFA course at Edinburgh College of Art. The New Designers outing above was mid-way through his course, and the following year (2018) he showed again in Islington, this time as a graduate of the MFA. His work had moved on again, and again was stunning. But guess what? I didn’t buy one. Now this is getting somewhat ridiculous and made worse by writing it down like this. I just couldn’t decide…probably muttering something about “having a think about it”.
Moving on to Collect 2019 at the Saatchi Gallery, Sheng had been invited to show with The Goldsmiths’ Fair, which happened to be the stand right opposite Ruthin Craft Centre’s, which I had curated and was working on. We met again and chatted and I shamefully apologised for not having got in touch about finally buying a brooch.
This was the period just before I began my tenure as Interim Deputy Curator at the Goldsmiths’ Company. To mark this exciting occasion I had decided I would commission a new brooch - and so who better to make it than Sheng. Finally I got there! However as there were two versions I really liked, Sheng very kindly amalgamated the two by making a slightly deeper pressing in the mould - resulting in the beautiful piece in the image below. It is pressed and soldered silver with a satin surface, finished off with a polished gold bead in the centre. It’s a joy to wear and well worth the wait (thank you for being so patient Sheng!)
Links: see hyperlinks in bold
Sheng Zhang, Off-Vertical brooch, silver, gold, 32 x 11mm, 2019