David Clarke graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1997, and is often quoted as the enfant terrible, even the ‘bad boy’ of British silversmithing. Clarke’s work is a response and reaction to the entrenched traditions of silversmithing. His absolute willingness to experiment and play inappropriately sets Clarke apart.
Clarke has a way of transforming domestic household items into intelligent and engaging objects, he embraces traditional techniques and takes them to a whole new extreme.
Alongside his own practice, Clarke is currently associate lecturer at Konstfack, Sweden, and previously worked at St Lucas Antwerp, Belgium, South-Carelian Polytechnic Lappeenranta, Finland, Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Norway, Pforzheim School of Design, Germany and Rhode Island School of Design, USA.
Clarke’s work is in numerous private collections internationally and is also represented in many public collections and museums.
What makes your objects speak?
For me the objects speak when we have a familiarity with them, we recognise them; my objects all have an element from the everyday. They trigger old stories, experiences and situations. For me there has to have an ‘entry point’ or a way to access the object visually something we can connect to… it reminds of something or other. Now we are talking!
