Kevin Coates: A Hidden Alchemy - Goldsmithing: Jewels and Tablepieces

"Hidden Alchemy" is the first comprehensive publication on the work of Kevin Coates. Known to many as Britain's 'archimagus' of goldsmithing, he has created tableware and art jewellery for almost four decades, working as far out of the limelight as possible. His work is independent and untouched by fleeting fashions. Although Kevin Coates is known for his consummate workmanship as a goldsmith, what matters most to the discerning viewer is the intellectual and spiritual approach to jewellery-making which informs each of the artist's pieces. Kevin Coates is inspired by music, the theatre, painting, literature, mathematics, mythology, science and nature. And his creativity, his 'arcane alchemy', transforms his works into superlative icons of contemporary goldsmithing.Celebrated works of his, such as "The Amity Cup", the "Queen of the Night" diadem, the "Charter Bell" and Downing Street's "St. George Centrepiece" are in leading public and private collections in Britain and are known worldwide. Coates is a scholar, whose PhD thesis was on the geometry of numerical proportion in musical instruments, and an accomplished professional musician specialising in Baroque and early Classical music. Concerts in which he has played have been broadcast throughout Europe. Kevin Coates is a Liveryman of the Goldsmiths' Company and a Fellow of the Royal College of Art. He was recently appointed Associate Artist with the Wallace Collection in London.

The beautiful book `A Hidden Alchemy' maps the journey of artist craftsman Kevin Coates through a life of craftsmanship, music, geometry, literature and philosophy. His work has influenced a generation through his exhibitions and teaching at the Royal College of Art. Roy Strong, director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, explains in the book's introduction that one of the delights of working at the V&A was the discovery of the renaissance in the world of Applied Arts in Great Britain. 'I cannot tell you the excitement of meeting contemporary creators, of being either to exhibit or acquire works by them for the collection. Kevin Coates was a man whose work fascinated me for its complexity, astonishing technical virtuosity, sophistication of allusion, and unashamed richness of a kind which would have delighted a Medici Grand Duke,' Strong writes. 'I am fortunate enough to have and wear one of Kevin's jewels, a lapel brooch made by him in memory of my late wife, the designer Julia Trevelyan Oman. So I have the knowledge and experience of living with a jewel which has power and presence and in a sense a life of its own. It is recondite, meant to be read by the initiated but a closed book to ignorant eyes,' Strong continues. The book opens our eyes to the cornerstones of Coates' philosophies, his love of music and the influence of Mozart. The `Mozart Jewels' chapter replicates a lecture given by Coates at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, explaining his interaction with the opera The Magic Flute. An interview, with Francoise Carli on the Lido Beach, Venice, called Fragments: Pages stolen from a book of Time, investigates his use of found objects from the Lido Beach which include fragments of household china and 16th and 17th century shards of maiolica (fine earthenware with coloured decorated on an opaque white tin glaze), washed up from the lagoon where they were dumped as sea-defence ballast long ago. A Hidden Alchemy, sumptuously bound and produced with a full complement of illustrations of Coates' work, is a superb insight into the mind of a great artist craftsman. --The Goldsmith Magazine, No. 318, July 2008

The intriguing title of 'A Hidden Alchemy' is a reference to Coates` way of thinking and working, the complex mix of theory , myth and imagination that inspires his work. If this conjures images of the rich and fantastical, then readers of this frankly gorgeous book will not be disappointed. Bound in silk and lavishly illustrated in full colour, the weighty 314-page tome feels like it belongs on the shelves of a story-book alchemist; an impression which is reinforced by the inclusion of intricate drawings, footnotes and a comprehensive index, bibliography and catalogue raisonné. A page at the back listing the different materials used by the jeweller even reads like a diabolical recipe: walrus ivory, boxwood, aragonite and Emu egg. ... 'A Hidden Alchemy' is an essential purchase - both informative and a lovely object in itself. --Magazine

Something of a precious object itself, with its heavy glossy pages, this monograph celebrates Coates's entire oeuvre, some 425 pieces from 1973 to the present. ... With its illustrated catalogue raisonné, this elegant volume is a definitive reference on a singular artist. --Magazine

The intriguing title of 'A Hidden Alchemy' is a reference to Coates` way of thinking and working, the complex mix of theory , myth and imagination that inspires his work. If this conjures images of the rich and fantastical, then readers of this frankly gorgeous book will not be disappointed. Bound in silk and lavishly illustrated in full colour, the weighty 314-page tome feels like it belongs on the shelves of a story-book alchemist; an impression which is reinforced by the inclusion of intricate drawings, footnotes and a comprehensive index, bibliography and catalogue raisonné. A page at the back listing the different materials used by the jeweller even reads like a diabolical recipe: walrus ivory, boxwood, aragonite and Emu egg. ... 'A Hidden Alchemy' is an essential purchase - both informative and a lovely object in itself. --Magazine

Something of a precious object itself, with its heavy glossy pages, this monograph celebrates Coates's entire oeuvre, some 425 pieces from 1973 to the present. ... With its illustrated catalogue raisonné, this elegant volume is a definitive reference on a singular artist. --Magazine