Commission: Handmade trapezoid shape case in sterling silver with applied heat coloured titanium detail. Two part watch dial of oxidised silver with gold inlay and bone. Watch has quartz movement and fitted with rubber wristband. Designed and made by Barbara Heath for Donald Holt 1989.
BACK STORY REQUESTED:
Donald Holt commissioned this piece in 1989 or 1990 …
We were friends and he had just designed the facade and interior of my second jewellery shop at Paddington, Brisbane.
His design was madly funny and so so chic … with angled columns of patinated brass and a small shop window onto the street, so tiny it was the size of a picture frame …
which became a mini gallery for a time.
Various artists made installations there with often only a loose reference to jewellery.
Thirty years later many people still remember this window … as their introduction to my work.
This was an explosively expanding time in my design practice.
At the time I was busy developing titanium sunglasses frames for Jonathan Sceats in Sydney, a range of titanium and perspex jewellery for Covers, exhibiting internationally alongside Jenny Kee, Linda Jackson etc in the Fashion Australia book by Elina Mackay for Austrade.
But I was also busy building the framework for my commission practice.
This little one-off watch is from this era – ’80’s angularity and an eclectic materials mix – antique bone with blackened silver inlaid with gold and coloured titanium.
Barbara Heath
http://designonline.org.au/20-queensland-designers-barbara-heath/
