Robert Welch (designer)

Born in Hereford, he was the only son of Leonard Radford Welch (1894–1969) and his wife, Dorothy Perkins (1897–1982), who trained as an artist before their marriage in 1923.

All three were to become renowned in their field, creating "remarkable one-off commissions in silver, as well as tackling production designs in newly fashionable and affordable stainless steel.

During the 1950s they had all been influenced to a large degree by the Scandinavian Modern style, especially the anthropomorphic vessels and jewellery of the Danish sculptor-designer Henning Koppel for Georg Jensen."

Lesley Jackson[6] As a student, Welch made four extended visits to Scandinavia, studying in Stockholm and working with the Norwegian silversmith Theodor Olsen.

Scandinavian modernism made a huge impression on him, instilling a love of functional precision and the clean line.

[9] In 1955 Welch established a workshop and studio in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire in a silk mill that had formerly been the home of Charles Robert Ashbee's Guild and School of Handicraft.

He had chosen this area because it was easy for him to visit the Wiggins' factory in Bloxwich, and his parents' home in West Malvern, as well as London – to where he would eventually travel for teaching posts – but it would remain a base for the rest of his working life.

[10] The industrial design side of the business, Robert Welch Associates, produced work for clients including Royal Doulton, British Railways, Guinness, BOAC, H. E. Lauffer, Carl Prinz and Poole Pottery.

Robert Welch continued to work in silver throughout his career, creating elegant one-off designs in response to commissions for ecclesiastical, institutional, ceremonial and domestic plate.

He began working with Welch in 1958, from which point he was largely responsible for making most of the commissioned ecclesiastical and domestic silverware.

It's just one of these things which cannot be really pinpointed, you just (...) are alert and aware and receptive, and somehow things just happen.” Robert Welch[15] 1962 Elected FSIA (Fellow of the Society of Industrial Artists) 1965 Elected RDI (Royal Designer for Industry) – a faculty within the Royal Society of Arts 1979 Awarded MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) Dates denote year/s of design, year of first production may be later 1956 Campden tableware and cutlery range, named after Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, where his studio was based.

Each new design is still created in Chipping Campden in the same building where Welch began his career over half a century ago.