Handcrafted ‘Table Tools’ by Alison Jackson.

Form and function. It’s a marriage made in heaven. And it’s the union that young gold and silversmith, Alison Jackson, carefully nurtures in all of her tableware work.

‘Table Tools’ is the ultimate expression of Alison’s desire to design and make simple, refined and pared-back pieces that are beautiful, functional and can be used every day for generations to come. This new work includes one-off, individually made pieces such as vessels of many shapes and sizes, spoons each with their own personality, quirky whisks and flexible serving utensils.

The collection, showing now at CraftACT: Canberra Craft + Design Centre, one of the capital’s oldest cultural institutions, is all the more special because Alison chose to use processes that have changed little over the centuries—which she says are a dying art in Australia—to create Table Tools.

Alison works full-time out of her silversmithing workshop, Pocket Studio, where she teaches short courses. She discovered her love of silversmithing early and studied at the Australian National University School of Art, Gold and Silversmithing Workshop, and University of Applied Sciences, Gemstone and Jewellery Design in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. She has exhibited internationally and nationally.

Alison’s first solo exhibition runs until 24 October
CraftACT: Craft & Design Centre
Level 1, North Building, 180 London Circuit, Canberra ACT

[Images courtesy of Alison Jackson. Photography by Angela Bakker.]