Wendy Ramshaw CBE (born 1939 in Sunderland) has been associated with the V&A since the 1970s. One of the most important British artist jewellers and designers of the post war period, she has worked in paper, acrylic and precious metals. She trained as a textile designer and illustrator at Newcastle upon Tyne College of Art and Industrial Design from 1956-60 and then at Reading University where she met her husband, jeweller and designer David Watkins. She completed post-graduate studies at the Central School of Art and Design in 1969 and her work was acquired for the Goldsmiths Company collection by Graham Hughes. She became a freewoman (one of the first two women to be admitted) and later Lady Liveryman of the Goldsmiths Company and was awarded an OBE in 1993 and a CBE in 2003.

Wendy Ramshaw’s earliest jewellery was made of paper or acrylic. This gold and pearl ring was made in 1965 and is one of her first pieces of jewellery in precious metal. It was bought from the Crafts Centre of Great Britain for £5 5s by Marion Maule, who was then secretary at the Brewing Industry Research Foundation in Reigate. She bought the ring whilst in London for a dentist trip and spent her week’s food money on it. The textured gold surface of the ring contrasts with the polished surface of Wendy Ramshaw's later work but the abstract geometric design suggests some of the themes which she subsequently explored. Although the ring is not hallmarked, luckily the donor kept the original receipt from the Crafts Centre.