Life has many 'sliding doors moments' but West Dean seems to play host to these at an above average rate. In this latest example we see how a gift voucher for a one day silversmithing course leads to a career change and a Masters at the Royal College of Art. To find out more we sat down with Richard Denne, attendee of John Norgate's silversmithing summer school and regular short course student here at our Sussex campus.  

Can you introduce yourself briefly and what you do?

My name's Richard Denne, I'm now a silversmith and metalsmith.

Is that always what you’ve done?

No, I originally studied music at degree level and then got a job, got a mortgage, but I had an itch to carry on being creative and so about 20 years ago I did a print making degree at the University of Brighton. Skip forward 20 years and I felt I had exhausted printmaking and had nothing left to say but I was bought a voucher to come to West Dean and make a silver spoon in a day and loved it. I sought out some more courses here, especially with John Norgate, and just fell hopelessly in love with making silver objects.

What was it about silver that drew you in so much?

The metal itself, the way it moves, the surface, the finish. All of those things just kept me captivated.

So how did a 1 day course at West Dean result in a masters at the Royal College of Art?

Life is funny, you meet the right people at the right time. Around the time I studied printmaking I had interviewed twice for the Royal College of Art but had not been accepted. However, on a West Dean course I sat next to the artist in residence, Linda Brothwell. We started talking and I casually said, “Oh I really would love to have gone to the Royal College to do this”. She told me she was a visiting lecturer there and that I should apply. That really sowed the seed. But there was another coincidence on another course where I sat next to tutor Louisa Taylor who teaches ceramics, she happened to be doing a metal course and, after talking, revealed she had been to the Royal College. She offered to help me with my application and strangely enough, I got in! So yeah, it was a crazy journey, just to go from doing it on a 1 day course, 3 years earlier to getting into the Royal College of Art and studying it for 2 years.

You mention you had run out of inspiration for printmaking, did this new medium revive you creatively?

Yeah, I think the switch from 2D to 3D freed me up again. I think there was also a frustration that printmaking was as much about promoting yourself as it was about your work and I wasn't very good at that. I'm still not very good at that, prior to the Royal College I was quite a shy maker, but 2 years there and you don't have time to be shy, they knock that out of you. Every time you go to a seminar you are expected to present your work in progress so you slowly become more competent at it. I think that the college also focuses on your ideas rather than your skills which is quite freeing.

That’s an interesting philosophy that ideas are more important than skill.

Absolutely, and I think the Royal College of Art interview process reinforced this. It digs into your psyche, seeks out what motivates you, why are you interested? How do you communicate your ideas? There used to be a metalsmith tutor at West Dean called Ane Christensen and I would tell her “oh I'm coming here as often as I can to gain this many skills” and she told me if that's the approach you take you may never try something, because you'll feel that you need the skill before you experiment to try and resolve the problem. So it's far more important to have the ideas and then try and find the skills to realise that idea.

Am I right in thinking this journey to the Royal College of Art started with a West Dean course voucher you were given?

Yes! I think I expressed an interest in the area having been to the Royal College graduation shows year after year. I became less and less interested in the fine art and more drawn to applied arts, I was always fascinated by how well things were executed. In the applied arts they taught the craft of it and I guess it just sat in the background of my mind. I was always fascinated by the sculptural objects so when the spoon course came up it seemed like a good fit. It was so exciting to see the metal move from the billet into a spoon, Abigail Brown was brilliant at teaching it. That course started a long succession of courses at West Dean especially with John Norgate after a box making course so the voucher really set the ball in motion.

A number of your fellow students have mentioned how amazing John is and that you keep coming back, what is it about this summer school and John?

I guess it focuses the mind. To have the luxury of studying in your own very well resourced workshop is amazing and to not have to worry about know who's at the door or cooking yourself dinner. You can just sit there and focus on what you want to achieve and be amongst like-minded individuals. With John, it’s his problem solving, you'll have an issue and you'd probably sit there for hours on end thinking about it but you can explain it to him and he’ll know the solution. There's 10 people in there making 10 different projects, and he can go from one project to another, and he's just on the ball straight away. To get that kind of expertise, it's not really found nowadays. He apprenticed, he worked as a jobbing silversmith  and he’s able to point you in the direction of how you fix that problem in an effective way.

Speaking to your fellow students, this idea of problem solving seems to be a big part of the process and something we don't typically associate with creative pursuits. Can you say something about that?

The whole process from sheet metal to an object is long. It starts with a drawing and that turns into dimensional drawings. From there you have to then translate that into 3D and there are lots of problems that can arise all along that journey. You know, you're cutting something out with a very thin blade, you're piercing something, what happens if you go over the line or you have to file it? You have to make sure it fits perfectly, its tricky. But then having the support of an experienced tutor for whom it was a day job. You just pick up tips. You just don't get that anywhere else.

Looking ahead to the future what projects have you got coming up that excite you? Where do you want to go with your craft?

So the two years at the Royal College highlighted my fascination with objects that occupy the landscape of the table. So things like cutlery and candelabra, I’m creating irregular pylons that have spaces for candles to occupy. My work has become much more sculptural, I'm currently making a trophy and it would have been very easy to deliver something very standard but I want to make something extraordinary. Coming to West Dean has given me the luxury of making space for that process with the support of John.

So you'll definitely be back at West Dean next year?

Before that! I'm coming back at Christmas. John is doing another 5 day course at Christmas.

It’s been inspiring to hear about your journey from a 1 day course to the Royal College of Art. What advice would you give to anyone with similar ambitions?

Well, everyone should do it. I mean, if you have any desire to go to somewhere like the Royal College of Art, I would say do it, just apply and do it. You'll be surprised. It's an amazing journey. It's tough, but it's an amazing journey.

You can find our full selection of silversmithing courses here.