Christopher Thompson Royds
Christopher Thompson Royds b.1978 completed his masters in goldsmithing and jewellery at the Royal College of Art in 2010. Since graduating he has won an international following for his gold jewellery inspired by English wildflowers. The Natura Morta series was catalysed by a visit to the herbarium archive of hundreds of pressed flowers at the Natural History Museum. The Against Nature works are both object and jewel. These life-size gold sculptures seek to immortalise the threatened flowers of hedgerows and verges. Each flower is hand-rendered in gold sheet and wire – drawing attention to their sculptural qualities and their beauty.
“For millennia, flowers have been used to adorn humankind, Against Nature seeks to reciprocate this simple action. Each piece comes apart to be earrings, a brooch or pendant. The wearer, as in nature, can pluck the flower head from the stem and put it in their ear, or button hole. A simple ritual but one which goes to the essence of jewellery.”
