John Donald (1928-2023) had a transformative influence on British fine jewellery design of the 1960s and ‘70s, one of a handful of young, innovative goldsmiths who challenged convention and brought an alternative aesthetic to mainstream precious metals.

Following National Service he enrolled at the Royal College of Art, London, graduating in 1955. In 1961 he set up his London workshop. British jewellery design had been slow to recover from wartime austerity, hindered considerably by the high rates of purchase tax which continued to be levied on new pieces (in 1968 when this prototype bracelet was made purchase tax was 55%). 1968 also marked the year John Donald established his shop with its basement workshop on Cheapside in the City of London, where he remained until 2005.

This prototype was one of many bracelet designs by John Donald around this time, made in silver-gilt but only available for purchase in gold. Their purpose was to demonstrate a particular design to customers, including retail jewellers, who might then order the design to be made up in gold.

In the book ‘Precious Statements’ co-written with Russell Cassleton Elliott, John Donald explains the origin of the bracelet’s rich naturalistic pattern: ‘The cheapest form of gold one can buy from the bullion dealer is ’grain’. This grain is used for casting and the bullion dealers arrived at it by dropping molten gold through a sieve into water. By chance, I noticed that some of the grain had captured air and cooled, forming cup shapes. I soldered these cups together, some facing up and others facing down, giving the appearance of ‘bead and cup’.