Not currently on display at the V&A

Alveston

Knife
1961 (designed), 1966 (made)
Artist/Maker
Old Hall Tableware Ltd. (maker)
Welch, Robert (designer)
Place of origin
Bloxwich (made)

Robert Welch (1929-2000) was trained at the Birmingham School of Art under Ralph Baxendale and Cyril Shiner. From 1952 to 1955 he was at the Royal College of Art, after which he was appointed as design consultant to J.J. Wiggin of Bloxwich, manufacturers of stainless steel tableware. Throughout his career he undertook many industrial design commissions (he designed the stainless steel tableware for the Orient liner Oriana) while continuing to practise as a silversmith.


Object details

Categories
Design Council Award Winner
Eating
Metalwork
Tableware & Cutlery
Object type
Knife
TitleAlveston (manufacturer's title)
Materials and techniques
Stainless steel 18/8, forged, welded and polished
Stainless Steel, 18/8
Forging
Welding
Polishing
Brief description
Stainless steel, Bloxwich, 1965, made by Old Hall Tableware Ltd., designed by Robert Welch RDI, 1961
Physical description
The blade with a straight upper edge, rounded tip and curved cutting edge attached to a handle with concave edges ending in a rounded tip. The handles are hollow with a concave section on both sides formed by pressing in two halves and argon welding them together. The blade which is hot forged from a bar of stainless steel, has a pronounced bolster which is also argon welded on to the handle.
Dimensions
  • Length: 8.8in
Credit line
Given by Old Hall Tableware Ltd.
Object history
Design Centre Award, 1965. Following the Campden pattern of 1957, this was the second range of cutlery designed by Robert Welch to be made by Old Hall Tableware.
Summary
Robert Welch (1929-2000) was trained at the Birmingham School of Art under Ralph Baxendale and Cyril Shiner. From 1952 to 1955 he was at the Royal College of Art, after which he was appointed as design consultant to J.J. Wiggin of Bloxwich, manufacturers of stainless steel tableware. Throughout his career he undertook many industrial design commissions (he designed the stainless steel tableware for the Orient liner Oriana) while continuing to practise as a silversmith.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Stainless steel tableware designed by Robert Welch, Bloxwich, Old Hall Tableware Ltd. 1963
  • Colin Forbes, ed. Robert Welch; design in a Cotswold workshop, London, Lund Humphries, 1973. pp.21-23. ill.
  • Welch, Robert, Hand and Machine, Mill Chipping Campden, 1986
  • Charlotte and Peter Fiell, Robert Welch Design Craft and Industry, London, Laurence King Publishing, 2015. pp.90-91. ill. ISBN. 9781780676050
Collection
Metalwork Collection
Accession number
CIRC.20-1966

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Record createdMay 31, 2005
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O112478/alveston-knife-welch-robert/
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