The jewellery industry was saddened to learn of the death of one of the great mid-century British jewellers, Alan Gard. Alan Martin Gard apprenticed at Bond Street and worked for Andrew Grima, before forming his own jewellery business in 1964 at the age of 29.
Working in the 1960s and with contemporaries such as John Donald, David Thomas and Gillian Packard, Gard was a key part of the experimentation and exuberance of the British ‘jewellery renaissance.’ During this decade, jewellers disrupted conventional design and the austerity of the decades before, with experimentation in goldsmithing, statement pieces, gemstone setting and sculptural forms. Gard continued to work until the 21st century, adapting and refining his style with his own take on contemporary design, however it is the experimental pieces from the 1960s and the earlier portion of his career in which he gained his fame that are the most distinctive.
Gaining well-deserved repute for his skill and eye, Gard’s work soon achieved royal acclaim. His Lilypad brooch of 1967 was in Princess Margaret’s collection and was sold at Christie’s legendary sale of her jewels in 2006 for £10,200.
More recently, in September 2023, at the age of 87 he was commissioned by the author Jeffrey Archer to recreate the Imperial State Crown for his novel Traitors Gate – it took Gard 500 hours to complete and was a complete replica, formed from a base metal alloy, cultured pearls, synthetic stones and glass stones – a true testament to his craftsmanship.
Textured Gold
Experimenting with the forms, malleability and limitations of gold in the 1960s, Gard created wonderfully textured pieces, working with bark-like textures, nests of gold, rods, nugget-like forms, polished accents and maze-like structures to name a few. Most frequently working in 18ct yellow gold, it is these pieces that purist collectors’ favour.
Stunning Sculptural Forms
Alan Gard created bold, sculptural, and statement pieces. Often wonderfully dimensional and formed from layers and nests of gold, these jewels are so typical of their time and yet can appear incredibly modern and fresh today. The suite below crafted with a flattened, pierced and abstract design, is set with fifty-one ruby cabochons and sold at Bonhams in 2016 for £17,500.
Celebrating Gemstones
Another of Gard’s design hallmarks is the sparing use of diamonds. They are frequently used as small accents to add a slight sparkle to dramatic gold settings but are hardly ever the principal stone. Instead, Gard favoured coloured gemstones, and natural crystal forms with unpolished rough specimens, and where polished he showcased gemstone’s natural inclusions and conventional ‘imperfections.’ One such example is the pink tourmaline ring above, in which the tourmaline’s prevalent needle-like inclusions provide a symmetry to the gold needle ‘nest’ surround.
Another example of tourmaline in Gard’s work is shown in this brooch dating to 1967. Here he celebrates the natural form of tourmaline, using wonderful ‘watermelon’ slices of the natural crystal as the centrepiece of his design.
Other rough and polished gems to feature in his jewels include amethyst, peridot, ruby, emerald, turquoise, aquamarine, pearl, opal and countless others.
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Liz worked in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter for one of the UK’s leading regional jewellery auction houses whilst completing her FGA and DGA qualifications from the Gem-A, achieving top marks in each.