1 00:00:24,880 --> 00:00:29,520 TAPPING 2 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,480 My father, who was quite a character and had always 3 00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:37,640 loads of stories to tell, was using one of these hammers. 4 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,920 He was hand-raising a piece of silver with this 5 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,800 smooth-headed hammer, and he caught the edge, made a mark, 6 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:48,800 which normally you would file out or polish out and start again, 7 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,520 but he thought, in this case, "I might just repeat this," 8 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:54,560 which he did, and out came this sort of texturing here. 9 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:56,920 And he thought, "This could be really interesting," 10 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:58,720 so, he just developed it 11 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,880 and decided that the easiest way of repeating it 12 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:04,680 is not to keep on using the edge of the hammer, 13 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:07,840 but to carve in a section of this texture into the hammerhead, 14 00:01:07,840 --> 00:01:11,880 which he's done here, and as you're hand-raising a piece of silver, 15 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:14,920 as you're hitting the metal, out comes this texture. 16 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,520 Simon Benney holds three Royal warrants as a gold and silversmith. 17 00:01:26,240 --> 00:01:30,520 In the 1970s, his father ran a firm employing 25 staff, 18 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:35,280 but today, House of Benney is a modestly sized design business. 19 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,400 His exquisite handmade objects in precious metals 20 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,000 are renowned for their stunning enamel work. 21 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:46,960 As well as crafting bespoke objects for the Royal household, 22 00:01:46,960 --> 00:01:51,200 Simon creates beautiful individual pieces for private clients. 23 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,640 Silversmith Alan Evans has worked with Simon 24 00:01:56,640 --> 00:01:58,960 and his father for nearly 60 years. 25 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:04,200 The texturing that is the signature feature of Benney silverware 26 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:08,240 is still known in the trade as Benney Bark. 27 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:10,520 And that's Benney Bark. 28 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:28,920 COFFEE MACHINE WHIRS 29 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:35,760 What I'm working on now is a commission for a client 30 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,480 who would like a pendant for his wife's 50th birthday party. 31 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,400 So, the very first thing is there'd be normally a phone call or 32 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,720 a quick chat about roughly what they'd like. 33 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,520 I then start here, with doing some rough sketches, 34 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:51,680 just getting ideas in my head. 35 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:53,480 Also, ideas of colour - 36 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:56,160 we have, like, 50 different colours of enamel. 37 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:01,280 So, I grew up in a house 38 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,760 where we had a workshop attached to the house. 39 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,640 So, I grew up literally going into the workshop with my father 40 00:03:06,640 --> 00:03:10,760 and bashing bowls around and plates and hand-raising copper dishes 41 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:12,680 and things like that. 42 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:14,600 And not many kids have that opportunity. 43 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:16,040 'What's made here? 44 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:18,920 'Gerald Benney, the silversmith who designed the altar bed 45 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:22,600 'for Coventry Cathedral, specialises in formal and ceremonial work. 46 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,960 'As so much of his silverwork is too costly for ordinary people 47 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:34,560 'to own, Gerald Benney has now turned his talent to designing 48 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,240 'cutlery, in stainless steel as well as in silver.' 49 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:39,640 Dad was very technical, 50 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:41,960 he was a designer in the true sense of the word. 51 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:44,200 I basically design the same way. 52 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,920 I make sort of prettier drawings, rather than technical drawings, 53 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:52,880 but the silver industry as a whole has gone through huge changes. 54 00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:55,520 All the big factories in the Midlands have all gone, 55 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:57,720 and what is left are people like me, 56 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,720 artist craftsmen who do special one-off commissions. 57 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,920 It's very niche, it's not that huge, but you do make, 58 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,360 hopefully make, some very beautiful things. 59 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:09,720 'You'd never expect to find 60 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:12,880 'such a workshop as this inside a sleepy country house.' 61 00:04:12,880 --> 00:04:16,560 One thing that hasn't changed since the days of Simon's father 62 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:21,200 is the young silversmith filmed here in 1965. 63 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:25,240 Alan Evans is still working with Simon Benney today. 64 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:29,160 I must have been either 23 or 24. 65 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:33,240 The thing with the ladle was purely the cameraman's idea, 66 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,000 we don't normally do that. 67 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:42,480 I started as an apprentice in 1953. 68 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:44,280 It was a rather good job - 69 00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:47,720 I was making a spout for a coffee pot on the first day I started. 70 00:04:50,040 --> 00:04:52,480 Alan started work in Gerald Benney's London workshop 71 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,960 at a time of real change in British society. 72 00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:58,760 Out of the workshop in Whitfield Place, 73 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:03,200 you could look straight out onto the Post Office Tower being built. 74 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,800 It was the new age. 75 00:05:07,040 --> 00:05:10,640 The enthusiasm for a modern way of living had a significant effect 76 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:15,000 on the industry in which Gerald was an important figure. 77 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,400 'Just drink in the elegance of this young artist's tableware.' 78 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,680 The days when middle-class families had their own silverware have gone, 79 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,640 but Gerald was a canny operator 80 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,040 and his cutlery and tableware designs were licensed 81 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:33,840 and mass-produced in stainless steel. 82 00:05:33,840 --> 00:05:39,120 Nowadays, how many people want to have a silver tea set to clean? 83 00:05:39,120 --> 00:05:44,440 People probably want their new BMWs as a status symbol, 84 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:45,720 rather than silver. 85 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:49,800 This house here is where I was brought up. 86 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:51,800 I was born here in '66. 87 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:56,640 My parents bought the house in 1962, I think, from memory. 88 00:05:56,640 --> 00:05:58,280 Of course, in the early '60s, 89 00:05:58,280 --> 00:06:01,560 you could buy an old country house like this for very little money. 90 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:04,520 They weren't rich by any means, so they literally bought a wreck. 91 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:05,600 Their bedroom was here - 92 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:08,200 I mention that because I was born in this bedroom 93 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,520 on New Year's Day, during one of my parents' many parties, 94 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,880 but Dad delivered me, which was curious, 95 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,760 and then he went back to the party afterwards, 96 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:20,120 so Mum was up there with me on New Year's Day 97 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:21,800 with the party raging downstairs. 98 00:06:21,800 --> 00:06:24,960 When I was a kid, sort of seven, eight years old, 99 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:26,680 I started going into the workshop 100 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:30,960 and bashing bits of metal around, which used to drive Alan crazy. 101 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:37,800 I first saw Simon when he was a day old, and as he grew up... 102 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:41,680 He used to go off to school, but when he was at home, 103 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:46,360 there was this period of time when we had a job to keep him 104 00:06:46,360 --> 00:06:49,320 out of the workshop, because every time he came in, 105 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:53,280 he couldn't leave anything alone, so, he would pick up a hammer 106 00:06:53,280 --> 00:06:55,560 and you'd say, "No, put that down, Simon." 107 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,200 Anyway, I'm glad that's over with! 108 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:06,240 After a consultation with his client, 109 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,200 Simon brings his ideas for the pendant to Alan for appraisal. 110 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:12,840 There you go, that's the idea about the pendant... 111 00:07:12,840 --> 00:07:15,160 The advantage of such a bespoke piece 112 00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:18,880 is that the pendant will be a highly personalised item. 113 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,800 George's wife, Lucy, is on the Court of the Mercers. 114 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:27,920 In their crest is this Mercers' Maiden. 115 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:32,360 Well, I think the best way to do this hinge is to... 116 00:07:32,360 --> 00:07:36,640 instead of having it on the side, to have it on the top. 117 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:38,280 OK. 118 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:43,280 With the design agreed, work can begin. 119 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:54,320 Like so much else in the workshop, the 1953 milling lathe 120 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,240 came from Gerald Benney's workshop at Beenham House, 121 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:01,440 and has been lovingly maintained by Alan ever since. 122 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,480 The main body of the pendant will be made from 123 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:09,800 two pieces of 18-carat gold. 124 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,280 Of course, everything that comes off, the scrap, 125 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:16,960 always goes back and they re-melt it 126 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,480 and that will probably be the next lot that we buy. 127 00:08:21,480 --> 00:08:26,080 You never really know where the gold actually comes from. 128 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:31,240 Whether it's from a mine or from Brink's-Mat, we don't know. 129 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,880 This is the front part of the pendant. 130 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,880 We are turning this out to take the enamel. 131 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:54,760 The racks of ancient silversmithing tools contain many items 132 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,320 that are genuine museum pieces. 133 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,440 Dad got them from some of the old workshops which were going bust 134 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,840 in Sheffield and Birmingham, they had thousands 135 00:09:02,840 --> 00:09:05,080 and thousands of tools just lying around, 136 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:07,640 and you could come and pick them up and buy them. 137 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,080 Just went up and filled the back of the boot, you know, full of all the tools, 138 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,760 brought it back to Beenham. So, some of these guys are 100 years old. 139 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:17,440 There's one particular tool here 140 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:20,080 that I used when I was an apprentice. 141 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:27,120 It's very rusty now, because it hasn't been used for many years, 142 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,400 but it used to make chalice bases. 143 00:09:36,760 --> 00:09:40,720 This is one of our simplest beakers, it would be called a 101 beaker. 144 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:44,080 They are normally textured, that kind of classic bark texture. 145 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,160 The hammer marks - we use a flat, polished hammer 146 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:52,400 instead of a carved hammer, which leaves all these hammer marks in, 147 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:55,520 then we do a light polish, which makes it nice and bright, 148 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,320 but doesn't polish out all these hammer marks, 149 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:00,400 because it creates a nice ripple effect. 150 00:10:00,400 --> 00:10:04,000 Like his father, Simon is amongst a very select group who have 151 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,320 simultaneously held four Royal warrants. 152 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:11,280 Royal warrants are very significant to me, especially with new clients. 153 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,320 It's kind of a seal of approval - the Royal family, 154 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:17,080 who obviously love your work, have given you a Royal warrant. 155 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,040 So, it must be a certain quality or a certain standard 156 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:21,800 and a certain amount of trust, 157 00:10:21,800 --> 00:10:25,040 which, if you can get that very early on in a relationship, 158 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:26,760 it becomes so much easier, 159 00:10:26,760 --> 00:10:29,600 because they basically trust what you can do for them. 160 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,080 It's very personal. 161 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:33,160 Say, if you were supplying cornflakes - 162 00:10:33,160 --> 00:10:35,920 there would be no real direct relationship, particularly. 163 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:38,960 But with what I do, it is a very personal thing, it's very personal 164 00:10:38,960 --> 00:10:41,720 gifts you're making, so from that point of view, it's lovely, 165 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:44,760 because you do get a feel for how they operate, the family. 166 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:53,560 I did a blue bowl for the Queen - I didn't actually meet the Queen - 167 00:10:53,560 --> 00:10:56,800 some key rings for Princess Diana. 168 00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:05,480 The 101 beaker starts as a flat circle of silver and is gradually 169 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:09,720 raised by repeated hammering over different-shaped formers. 170 00:11:12,400 --> 00:11:17,720 You could probably raise up the shape within a day, then, say, 171 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:20,760 another two or three hours to smooth it out again. 172 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:24,240 It's a state of mind, isn't it, really? 173 00:11:24,240 --> 00:11:29,360 If your mind wanders too much, then you find that things can go wrong. 174 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:33,400 It's a bit like driving, isn't it? 175 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:38,160 If you're driving a car, you're not thinking, "I must change gear now," 176 00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:42,920 a certain amount of automation takes over, but you're still thinking 177 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,520 about what you're doing, otherwise you run into the bloke in front. 178 00:12:09,560 --> 00:12:12,360 The back of the pendant, which is to be engraved with 179 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,920 a picture of the client's daughter, is cut from a sheet of gold. 180 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,360 The difficulty is not breaking the blade. 181 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,600 Right, that has got to be flattened off now, 182 00:12:32,600 --> 00:12:37,080 so when the two pieces come together, they will meet neatly. 183 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,400 But the trouble is, when you enamel, 184 00:12:42,400 --> 00:12:50,240 because it's oval, sometimes it will alter the geometry of it slightly. 185 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:11,680 This gold tubing, I'll cut three pieces off, 186 00:13:11,680 --> 00:13:15,680 which make what we call the knuckles of the hinge. 187 00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:20,480 There it is, right. 188 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:27,080 Many years ago, I was doing a ring, with this valuable sapphire. 189 00:13:27,080 --> 00:13:31,160 It was quite a largish stone, and what happened was, 190 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,920 it dropped down this hole at the back and ended up inside 191 00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:40,240 and it took me about seven or eight hours to find it. 192 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,440 These are the three components of the hinge of the pendant. 193 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:56,600 The middle one is attached to the rear of the pendant 194 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,720 and the outer two are attached to the front. 195 00:13:59,720 --> 00:14:04,480 The middle one has the loop on, to take the chain, like that. 196 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,040 At this point, progress is interrupted by a vital stage 197 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:20,160 in the manufacture of any item of gold or silver. 198 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,960 Simon must take the pendant to be hallmarked. 199 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,840 The name comes from the mark given at the Assay Office 200 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:31,520 at the Goldsmiths' Hall in the City of London. 201 00:14:34,280 --> 00:14:36,800 In order to qualify as 18-carat, 202 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:41,560 it needs to contain 750 parts per thousand of pure gold. 203 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:45,440 The gold content, which is the one we are primarily interested in, 204 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,440 as that tells us whether it is up to standard or not. 205 00:14:48,440 --> 00:14:51,720 The hallmark contains Simon's own maker's mark, 206 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,800 the crown for a gold item, 207 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:55,760 the gold content, 208 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,800 the leopard's head symbol of the London Assay Office 209 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:02,240 and a lower-case "r" for 2016. 210 00:15:04,680 --> 00:15:06,440 In order not to distort the shape 211 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:08,920 of such a small item with a hammered stamp, 212 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:13,160 the hallmark can be burnt onto the pendant with a laser. 213 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,000 Yup, absolutely perfect. Thank you. 214 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,080 The Goldsmiths' Hall has regulated the trade in precious metals 215 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,480 and looked after the interests of its members 216 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,440 since its establishment in 1339. 217 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:45,040 The Benney name is held in high esteem here. 218 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:47,400 Simon's father, Gerald, brought about something of 219 00:15:47,400 --> 00:15:51,120 an Elizabethan Renaissance in English silversmithing, 220 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:55,120 and Simon is meeting one of his most ardent collectors. 221 00:15:55,120 --> 00:15:58,680 They've taken 25 years to put together... 222 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:01,600 John is to curate an exhibition of work by both Simon 223 00:16:01,600 --> 00:16:03,840 and his father in Hong Kong next year. 224 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:07,280 It will be their first joint show. 225 00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:14,040 There are 45 examples of Gerald Benney's boxes on the table, 226 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:16,640 many of which Simon has never seen. 227 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:21,720 This is a classic of the period, 228 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,280 sort of Scandinavian influenced, very clean lines. 229 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:26,800 A very beautiful piece. 230 00:16:26,800 --> 00:16:30,440 Gerald began to seek an alternative to the prevailing Scandinavian 231 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:34,400 look after an American woman visited his workshop in the early 1960s, 232 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,000 seeking English silverware. 233 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:42,920 "But, Mr Benney, this isn't modern English silver, it's Scandinavian!" 234 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:47,400 After that incident, he set about altering the very way 235 00:16:47,400 --> 00:16:52,960 that he worked, and this is in House Beautiful of June 1962 - 236 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,440 "I am trying to design silver which is immediately 237 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:58,480 "recognisable as English. 238 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:03,320 "I think English silver should be rugged, solid and functional, 239 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,240 "but at the same time, modern." 240 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,480 One of Britain's best-kept secrets is the quality of its craftsmanship 241 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:14,400 and design with silver, and your father is instrumental in that. 242 00:17:17,760 --> 00:17:22,240 Gerald's boxes were mainly made as commemorative gifts. 243 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,720 This one has been engraved with a prospect 244 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:28,200 of the Ford Motor Company's Dagenham factory. 245 00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:35,360 The Hong Kong exhibition will include some of Gerald's pieces 246 00:17:35,360 --> 00:17:38,440 from the Goldsmiths' own collection. 247 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:42,520 This chalice shows the influence of contemporary British sculptors 248 00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:45,360 like Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore. 249 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:50,760 They also have a coffee pot 250 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,920 from a set made for Number 10 Downing Street. 251 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:56,640 Well, in the 1960s, this was the time 252 00:17:56,640 --> 00:18:00,440 when Gerald really became well known as a designer-silversmith, 253 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:04,280 particularly of modern tableware, and here at Goldsmiths' Hall, 254 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:07,680 we use the 50 settings that we commissioned from him 255 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,960 for cutlery every week at lunch. 256 00:18:10,960 --> 00:18:12,840 He was a very modest man. 257 00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:16,200 Here was someone who had four Royal warrants, who would just, 258 00:18:16,200 --> 00:18:18,600 as an aside, say, "By the way, I'm going to be staying 259 00:18:18,600 --> 00:18:21,440 "at Balmoral next week, so you won't be able to get hold of me." 260 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:26,240 But Gerald's significance extended beyond his own work. 261 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:31,640 As Principal of the Royal College of Art, he inspired future generations. 262 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:35,960 He has been THE major influence - no other country in the world 263 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:39,240 is as good at modern silver design as we are. 264 00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:43,320 We have 66 living silversmiths who are all antiques of the future. 265 00:18:49,760 --> 00:18:53,280 Now bearing its hallmark, the next stage for the pendant 266 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:57,240 is a visit to two relics of London's once flourishing silver industry, 267 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:01,600 who are still making a living doing things by hand. 268 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:11,280 The trade itself is completely dying. 269 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:15,480 We are dinosaurs, we are a dying industry. 270 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,000 People want technology sooner - 271 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:19,160 new TV, new phone. 272 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:22,880 Now, this has come in for a refurb, it needs a little flick-up. 273 00:19:25,840 --> 00:19:28,920 So, that would be what you would call the outside done, 274 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:32,480 but to do the inside, we have to make our own little tools. 275 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,200 I worked for Gerald for about 28 years. 276 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,440 He was very what I would have called Edwardian. 277 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,400 Always turned up in a nice big car with his chauffeur. 278 00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:53,000 I remember one occasion, he sent me two five-light candlesticks. 279 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:55,160 I rang him up and said, "They're done." 280 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:57,760 He sent his daughter that afternoon to collect them. 281 00:19:57,760 --> 00:19:59,200 She turned up in a sports car. 282 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,360 I said, "You're never going to get them in there." 283 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:03,080 She said, "No, they'll be all right." 284 00:20:03,080 --> 00:20:05,360 "Are you going back to work now?" She said, "Yeah." 285 00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:08,800 At the time, she was working at Buckingham Palace for Princess Diana, 286 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:12,720 so the car was quite safe being parked up with the boxes in it! 287 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:15,760 On the other side of the workshop, 288 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,280 the design for the engraving is finalised. 289 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,240 So, the Plasticine goes onto the back of the paper. 290 00:20:24,240 --> 00:20:26,720 Once you draw through with a point, 291 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:29,760 this will leave a fine line of Plasticine 292 00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:32,080 on the surface of the metal, 293 00:20:32,080 --> 00:20:35,920 which you then can draw over with a fine scribing line, 294 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:39,680 and from the fine scribing line, you can engrave 295 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:44,240 the outline that you are eventually going to cut up to, 296 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,640 to remove all the background of the metal. 297 00:20:54,520 --> 00:20:58,520 Steve grudgingly admits that there are machines that do engraving now, 298 00:20:58,520 --> 00:21:01,800 but the human touch still gives the best result. 299 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:06,800 With an engraving tool, it's about catching the light, 300 00:21:06,800 --> 00:21:10,440 so, you can do a cut that you turn it round 301 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:12,960 and it will look sort of positive or negative, 302 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:16,240 whereas a piece that's done on a machine or on a laser, 303 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:19,440 for the most part, once it's in metal, looks flat. 304 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:22,720 You still need to be able to look at something and think, 305 00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:26,000 well, if I put a little flick over the top of her eye, 306 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:32,120 it will look slightly different, whereas the machine doesn't do that. 307 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,320 The pendant now makes its final journey 308 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:44,480 to London's Jewellery Quarter, 309 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:46,840 to a basement in Hatton Garden... 310 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:50,080 ..where the diamonds will be added. 311 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:21,440 This is the enamel we are going to use on the pendant. 312 00:22:22,920 --> 00:22:25,200 It's an emerald green colour. 313 00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:31,480 Basically, it's a type of glass with metal oxides to colour it. 314 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:38,480 The green - I believe arsenic is used, and barium. 315 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:41,560 Some usually nasty things like that. 316 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:44,680 So, we have to grind this. 317 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,000 Now we're ready for applying it to the job. 318 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:59,360 Gerald Benney's enthusiasm for enamelling began in Sloane Square, 319 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:03,880 when he saw a multicoloured display of towels in the window 320 00:23:03,880 --> 00:23:07,720 of Peter Jones and decided what his work needed was colour. 321 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,400 Enamelling was something of a lost art, 322 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:14,200 since the demise of the Russian jeweller Carl Faberge. 323 00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:17,800 Gerald made a trip to Zurich to the firm of Burch-Korrodi, 324 00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:21,720 where he tracked down legendary enameller Berger Bergersen 325 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,840 and persuaded him to come and stay at Beenham House. 326 00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:30,920 He was a very tall, slightly heavily built Norwegian. 327 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:34,680 He had a great sense of humour, spoke very good English. 328 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:36,640 You'd get him coming out with English puns, 329 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:39,320 he was a great linguist. 330 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:41,960 He taught us what you really needed to know. 331 00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,240 You are learning all the time, with enamelling. 332 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,120 Bergersen had learned his art from emigre Russian jewellers 333 00:23:48,120 --> 00:23:51,360 who had worked in St Petersburg, and Gerald was proud to be able 334 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:55,640 to trace his enamelling DNA straight back to Faberge himself. 335 00:23:57,200 --> 00:23:59,760 Simon has inherited his father's love 336 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:01,960 for deep, lustrous colours in enamel. 337 00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:06,080 This goes on the stand. 338 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:08,840 The material is the ceramic that they used 339 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:11,200 on the space shuttle tiles. 340 00:24:11,200 --> 00:24:13,760 It's ideal for firing enamel on. 341 00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:18,800 It's not so bad on something like this, 342 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:23,560 but if it's a beaker, where you've got the enamel on the sides, 343 00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:25,920 you have to make sure it's perfectly dry, 344 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,880 otherwise it just drops off the moment you put it in the kiln. 345 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:35,320 TIMER BELL RINGS 346 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:39,280 Several enamel items Alan made during his time working with Gerald 347 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,760 are now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. 348 00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,760 But he doesn't let that sort of thing go to his head. 349 00:24:45,760 --> 00:24:48,160 I don't think I'm particularly proud, no. 350 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:51,440 It's pleasing, but if you're exhibited in a museum, 351 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,280 it tends to make you feel a bit older! 352 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,600 The sense of depth created by the combination of the glass 353 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,960 and underlying textured gold becomes apparent 354 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,360 as the pendant gently cools. 355 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:10,640 Well, what we've got here is a motor with a felt mop, 356 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,400 and what we have to do is 357 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:16,640 use a pumice and water to polish the enamel. 358 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,440 MUSIC: River Man by Nick Drake 359 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:43,200 I moved down here about 16 years ago. 360 00:25:43,200 --> 00:25:46,320 It's just beautiful, it really is beautiful. 361 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:48,520 I go to London about twice a week, 362 00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:52,040 to see clients and to meet with my suppliers. 363 00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,720 It's kind of a perfect combination of living here with the family, 364 00:25:57,720 --> 00:26:00,560 but working, part of the week anyway, in London. 365 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,040 It's a lovely place to work - I can sit out in the garden 366 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,400 and have my pencil and paper and just feel very calm, 367 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,760 let thoughts gather and do lots of sketching. 368 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,200 It's quite nice to have that kind of calming environment 369 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,880 to design in, because sometimes if it's too frantic, too many things 370 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:26,520 going on, it's quite difficult to get good thoughts in your head. 371 00:26:26,520 --> 00:26:28,440 But it's much easier out here. 372 00:26:32,240 --> 00:26:34,160 I'm very different from my father. 373 00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:38,080 Although I have carried on in the same vein, we are quite different. 374 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:40,480 I'm not too worried about dynasty. 375 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,480 If one of the kids wants to follow on, fantastic, 376 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:45,880 but if they don't, are interested and passionate 377 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:47,760 about something else which they love 378 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,000 and hopefully are successful at, that will give me 379 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:54,520 as much enjoyment as if they were part of Benney going forward. 380 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,720 When I die, I want my ashes up there. 381 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:05,000 Scatter them right at that little tree at the end. 382 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:07,960 Make sure the wind is going, like, that direction! 383 00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:20,960 Yes, it's not too bad. It has turned out reasonably well. 384 00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:24,520 I'm never really pleased with something when it's finished. 385 00:27:24,520 --> 00:27:28,200 You can always improve on anything, really. 386 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,040 I like to be a perfectionist. 387 00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:39,760 My wife says I am. HE CHUCKLES 388 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,120 What I love about this particular little pendant is that 389 00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:50,200 it's got all the elements which show off some of the skills we have. 390 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,680 That is stone setting, enamelling - 391 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:56,640 the green at the front and the lovely red enamel at the back - 392 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:59,120 hinge making and engraving. 393 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:02,560 The guys who helped me with this have done an amazing job, 394 00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:06,120 and they are all experts in their field. 395 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,760 The actual overall feel of it is pretty much as I wanted. 396 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:12,640 So, yeah, very happy.