Stuart Devlin ranks as one of the great contemporary gold and silversmiths and has been acclaimed by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths as the designer with ‘the Midas touch’. In the 1960’s and 70’s some silversmiths were disenchanted with designing anonymously for big manufacturing firms, which were in decline, and they set out on their own. They focused on their own style and had a personal commitment to the marketing of their own productions. The business designer craftsmen Stuart Devlin and Gerald Benney led in this field. Devlin was very successful with the idea of limited editions and the most popular of these were the surprise Easter eggs and Christmas boxes, which were so successful commercially that they have now become collector’s items. Stuart Devlin was born in Australia in 1931, and was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, London in 1958. He has produced a large variety of items ranging from his earlier Scandinavian influenced pieces to the new Australian decimal coinage in 1963. His later designs deliberately used parcel gilding and filigree to be striking and noticeable. His work is displayed in the Victoria and Albert Museum and his Royal warrant of appointment as Goldsmith and Jeweller to Her Majesty the Queen reinforce his achievements. By the late 1960’s he had a workshop with nine craftsmen and a West End retail outlet in Conduit Street. Devlin is still working and making commissions through his workshop in Littlehampton, East Sussex. Personal Statement from Stuart Devlin: I hope that my work reflects four maxims: ” That future is much more important than the past ” That creativity is paramount ” That skill is fundamental ” And that the justification for being a goldsmith is to enrich the way people live and work