This exhibition explores the evolution of a unique living tradition in design and silversmithing which has its origins in the Arts and Crafts Movement.
Architect, designer and social reformer Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) established The Guild of Handicraft in Whitechapel in 1888. Inspired by the anti-industrialism of John Ruskin and William Morris, Ashbee believed that good design and craftsmanship depended on good social conditions and in 1902 Ashbee, the guildsmen and their families, moved from their homes in London’s East End to the Cotswold town of Chipping Campden.

Among them was silversmith George Henry Hart (1882-1973). He and three subsequent generations of the Hart family continue in the Arts and Crafts tradition to this day, producing handmade silver in the same workshop in Chipping Campden. The exhibition tells their remarkable story, bringing together historic and contemporary commissions alongside the spectacular drawings which inspired them.

Exhibition organised by Compton Verney in collaboration with, and generously supported by, The University of Warwick and The Hart Silversmiths Trust. Exhibition research enabled with support from The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and conservation with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.