Silver circles and sculptural shapes
- Sara discovered silversmithing as a junior apprentice
- She hammers sheets of sterling silver into 3D forms inspired by the world around her
- Her pieces include rocket-shaped teapots, hand hammered bowls and fine jewellery
Sara Thompson’s interest in silversmithing began at the age of 11, when she began a years-long apprenticeship with a bench jeweller. “Instead of doing sports or after-school activities, I would go and apprentice,” she says. Later earning a bachelor of fine arts in craft from the Oregon College of Art and Craft, Sara now specialises in small-batch fabrication, custom home décor and jewellery. Her pieces range from engagement rings to silver teapots. “I am interested in how a single material can be used in many different ways,” she says. Using traditional techniques such as raising and planishing, Sara transforms flat sheets of sterling silver into 3D objects. She is inspired by the variety of forms she observes in the world around her, from raindrops to spaceships, and enjoys translating them into functional and sculptural metalwork.
INTERVIEW
I look for inspiration for 3D forms when I am out and about, and then tuck the details away and let them percolate in my mind. As I am working, I will see something in my head that is out of focus. Once I get that image crystal clear, I start to think about how to reverse-engineer it into metal.
Working with sheet metal is an intuitive and organic process for me in how the metal moves, where to bring the angle in or how to hit the metal in a certain way to create curvature. I can be hammering metal for hours until it starts to look like the piece I have in my mind. It is a magical moment.
I learned how to work very fast, and I gained the skillset to make a living and do production work. Instead of being in college and having six months or six weeks to develop a piece, I needed to know how to make six pieces in a day.
I love making teapots! In the metalsmithing community, they are a rite of passage. If you can make a teapot, you can make anything. They require a full toolbox of skills, from working with one really big sheet of metal to figuring out how to make everything fit together like a jigsaw puzzle.
