Jewellery designer Duncan Grimmond’s first commission was a request by his girlfriend to make a ring.
Now 55 years on, the couple will be celebrating Valentine’s Day by exhibiting some of his latest pieces in a major showcase of North Yorkshire artistic talent.
Duncan, from Harrogate, and Pam, a printmaker, met while studying at college in Birmingham in the 1970s. When she spotted a silver ring in a shop, he promised he would work out how to make it for her.
His generosity led to decades as a jeweller alongside other metal work, which has included making copper lamps for the Downing Street gates and decorative detailing for the roof of Buckingham Palace.
This weekend (14 February), some of Duncan’s handcrafted silver earrings will be included in North Yorkshire Open Studios’ Spring Showcase at Inspired By… gallery in Danby.
Duncan, 75, said: “Pam and I met at college. I saw this stunning blonde walking across the quad and she’s managed to put up with me ever since. We’ll have been married for 51 years in March.
“We saw this ring in a shop and she fancied it, so I said, ‘I’ll make you one of those’. It was a moss agate ball inside a four-claw setting. She still wears it now.
“Photographs were difficult in those days – you had to get the film developed so I just looked at it and thought ‘yes, I know how that works, I could do that’. So I did.”
When Duncan went to buy the silver to make it, he ended up with more than he needed, so he created more rings, which he spent a summer selling on the beach in Cornwall to, ironically, tourists from places like Birmingham where he’d just come from.
When he returned to Harrogate after college, he started making zinc and pewter bar tops alongside his jewellery designs. In the 1980s, when the late Yorkshire-based blacksmith Chris Topp was commissioned to make a set of gates for Downing Street to improve security at No.10, he asked Duncan to create copper lamps to go on them.
Then, in 2003, Duncan created decorative copper detailing for the roof of the Queen’s Gallery (now the King’s Gallery) in Buckingham Palace, for which he won a prestigious Copper Development Association award.
He said: “You can see it on the roof and the lamps are still there on Downing Street.
It’s very disappointing as they painted them black and I wanted them to go green as copper does.
“Every time there’s a news clip of something happening in Downing Street, if I’m lucky, I get to see my lamps on the television.”
Although Duncan does continue to make rings – he is currently working on a pair for a friend’s wedding, he mainly creates earrings. The pieces he is exhibiting at NYOS’ Spring Showcase at Inspired By… gallery are made from recycled silver and gold, and feature elements including mother-of-pearl.
Duncan will be just one of hundreds of artists from across North York to have their work on display. The showcase, in the heart of North York Moors National Park, will include paintings, sculpture, ceramics and more.
As well as giving visitors the chance to see stunning art works in a tranquil, countryside setting, it will be a teaser of what to expect during NYOS’ upcoming Summer Open Studios weekends (6-7 and 13-14 June), when more than 200 artists across 3,000 sq miles , including Duncan, will welcome the public into their creative spaces.
Garth Bayley, Project Manager at NYOS, said: “This exhibition is a vibrant celebration of the sheer breadth of talent we have here in North Yorkshire. By bringing together the work of hundreds of our members in the heart of the National Park, we’re offering a unique window into the county’s creative soul. It’s the perfect setting to stop and appreciate the work of the incredible artists who make our community so special.”
