About Jose….. the Technical Perfectionist with an eye on the Heavens….

  Born in Madrid, in a Spain still reeling from the effects of Civil War, he emigrated to England in an attempt to find a place to call home… and peace. This change, distance and difference allowed him to study both cultures and gain a deep appreciation and respect for both his adoptive and his native lands (especially the social and cultural history of Madrid). It has also meant that he can draw upon a wealth of knowledge in his creativity and art.    He is a technical perfectionist in his goldsmithing skills, a talent honed while working on antique reproduction commissions, mentally deconstructing pieces in order to create a replica, stepping into the mind and shoes of long gone craftsmen!; or when working to repair ecclesiastical pieces…. A rather large burden of responsibility when taking care of ancient church items means there is no room for mistakes!!  His own work is a reflection of his spirituality and is never created with the sole aim of  aesthetic appeal, but is spontaneous in its creation, a moment of spirit seized and captured in precious metal…ephemeral and ethereal. He sees the work almost as self forming, as though his hands are merely tools forming the shapes the metals are meant to take….working to no set plan, but letting the metal, or spirit, ‘talk’ to him, to ‘tell’ him where it wants to go or how it wants to be.  His other great passion is the carving of opal and the creation of jewellery that carries on the theme of the carving…usually inspired by water-birds, or birds in flight…swans are an abiding passion of Jose’s. And so opal wings caress metal feathers and embrace. Naturally, thanks to living on the outstandingly beautiful River Dart in Dartmouth, his inspiration is all around him. Truly in his element he never fails to be awestruck by the Dart’s mass of cormorants, swans, egrets, gulls and fellow birds that flock into his art.          And also the closeness of Dartmoor with its tors and secret woodland landscapes; the ponies (horses are another love), ravens and hunting birds…the ever changing seasons. It is a constant observation and wonder at the natural world that has an eternal fascination.

  He detests the snobbery that sometimes surrounds the culture of goldsmithing, and so has always revelled in the rebellion of mixing materials, gold with silver… diamonds with petrified wood or fossils… precious stones with synthetics or glass. It is the emotion of spirituality that matters more, the medium used to attain the finished piece of art is merely a vehicle for that expression. His increasing specialisation has meant that he has, as with all craftspeople, even created his own tooling for jobs that are not the mainstream, so a piece that may look relatively simple can have a multitude of unexpected skills hidden beneath the surface. And that is the majick in Jose’s work…that only he knows how much effort it has taken to create a piece that looks effortless!