Please don’t stay away. Now, more than ever, Primavera and all the artists we represent are depending upon the continuing support of our loyal and valued customers to visit the gallery and purchase.
We have hand sanitizer gel, gloves and masks if needed. If you wish to enjoy a private viewing of the gallery for a more personal and safer experience, this is something we can offer, with the door closed to all other customers during your visit. On arrival at the gallery, please request a private visit - a short wait may be necessary if there are already customers inside. Or, if you prefer, get in touch by phone or email to arrange a time that is convenient to you and we will do our best to make things easy for you.
If you are feeling safer at home for the time being, our website is being updated daily. We have a new section on the website called 'Choices'. It shows an array of our more collectable items, from Anglo-Saxon artifacts to Fuseli and Duval paintings.
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Featured is the painting 'Snowdonia' by Cambridge artist Tess Recordon.
Mother’s Day is a wonderful time to honour the mothers of the world. Though it is celebrated on various days in different parts of the world, the United Kingdom celebrates ‘Mothering Sunday,’ which falls on the fourth Sunday of March (31/03/19). Primavera gallery offers a wide range of gifts to help express how much your Mom means to you, such as silk painted scarves, hand-made cards, felt embroidered purses, sand washed ceramic pieces and carefully created jewellery. If you're looking for something special, Primavera is celebrating it's 75th anniversary by offering a 15% discount on selected jewellery items, including prized pieces by Malcolm Betts, Wendy Ramshaw, Shimara Carlow and Kai Klosowski. For more gift ideas, visit the Primavera gallery website where we have featured our favourite gifts for the mother figure in your life!
Wendy Ramshaw | The Legacy Lives On
Wendy Ramshaw’s iconic and award-winning ring sets allow the owner to switch and swap individual pieces. Many of her rings also come with their own handmade display stands, of which can be found in museums and art galleries alike! Some pieces of her jewellery are easy and simple whilst some are more complex. Because the work in the studio was always evolving, Wendy was curious to see the way new developments will resolve themselves, resulting in unique, and interesting ring designs. We have 10 pieces of Wendy's work available in the gallery, open to the public to admire and purchase. Her creativity and innovation leaves both a legacy and wonderful memory of the ceramicist, sculptor and jeweller that was Wendy Ramshaw.
Carol Naylor | A Stitch in the Sky
Carol is a contemporary textile artist who specialises in machine embroidery. She creates unique textiles by stitching directly onto painter’s canvas using a variety of rayon, cotton, woollen and metallic threads. Her stitched textiles range from small intimate pieces to large scale hangings that span walls. Carol’s work has been represented in many group and solo exhibitions and she teaches and exhibits in the UK and abroad. Her beautiful designs now decorate the “Spring” Window Display of Primavera, highlighting the bright and warm sunny days yet to come.
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With a name like Primavera, it came as no surprise that the gallery was inspired by the clear blue skies and sunny days that teased of an early Spring this year. We welcomed the green’s and yellows of budding flowers, sprouting shrubs, and the new work artists shared with us that can now be found in our 'Spring' inspired window display. The change in weather also inspired Primavera to turn its attention to the gallery, both off and online; and whether a Spring Clean was overdue…
Same Website | New Design
Spring Cleaning was well underway with the re-design of the gallery website. Clean lines, a minimalistic layout and a traditional approach to navigating the great expanse that is the internet, inspired the relaunch of Primavera’s online shop. The website's new design centres solely around the artists, their work and our mission to promote and retail contemporary British art and craft. Artist's work displayed by the gallery can be found within the main menu in the top right corner, or, when you scroll down to the 'Collection' tabs. Featured work can also be found on the home page, highlighting the latest pieces of artwork by our artists and the events the gallery will be participating in this year. Primavera has a growing presence on various social media platforms, of which can be found within the footer of the webpage. These include our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Those familiar with the previous version of the website will notice that many features remain the same, such as the ‘About’ link that outlines the history of the gallery, the team and information regarding our other locations. We believe that the gallery combines tradition with what’s new and contemporary and hope our customers enjoy the new website and it’s “traditionally different” design.
Sarah Palmer | Ring-Around-A-Rose-Gold
A Cambridge native, Sarah Palmer has spent years developing her trade and technique to create her beautifully organic jewellery designs. Sarah’s preferred techniques is that of reticulating metal by heat, hammering and forging. With this method, Sarah forces metals to the extremes and creates contrasting textures with strong lines in both gold and silver. During the first ten years of her designs, Sarah concentrated on using the materials of silver, gold and diamond; before developing her method to include rose-gold, platinum, pearls and semi-precious stones such as aquamarine and labradorite. Even after years of experience, Sarah’s techniques remain “spontaneous,” with some designs carefully planned beforehand, whilst others are triggered by the process of their very creation. The rings displayed in Primavera are a result of Sarah’s years of experimenting with these various techniques and design concepts, of which consistently overlap throughout her jewellery collections.
Neil Tregear | Birds and Birch Trees
From the rugged south coast of the Isle of Wight, Neil Tregear has sent Primavera pieces from his newest collection. Enamelled birch trees and sandpiper birds decorate the smooth surface of his bowls, mugs and vases. Neil’s training in Kyoto, Japan, is clear in his clean porcelain finish and refined turquoise glazes that pool into the wells of his animal coated bowls and mugs. Inspired by his nature filled surroundings, Tregear Pottery also includes designs of sea gulls, fish, rabbits, arctic terns, crabs, seals and butterflies. If you’re a nature and/or ceramic lover, Tregear Pottery is available at Primavera on King’s Parade.
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This month we are celebrating the work of Tony Laverick, who creates unique, beautiful ceramic work with incredible finishes (as seen below). We are exhibiting more than 25 amazing pieces in our main gallery on King's Parade in Cambridge until March 31st.
Tony's work has been in development since he started making and is inspired by early 20th Century sculptural art. Form is the main priority for Tony with the surface decoration emphasising that form. The pieces are mostly hand-built; it is this process and the materials used that make the intriguing surfaces which, whilst looking rough are, in fact, very smooth and tactile.Tony’s work constantly evolves but the handsome form remains.
From the rim, neck, shoulder, belly, to the foot of the pot, there is always harmony and balance. There is playfulness in his work with shapes jumping out and receding; but above all, he strives to achieve pure beauty in each finished piece.
The exhibition of Tony's work runs throughout March in our upstairs gallery at 10 King's Parade, Cambridge.
Every month, we feature a different artist in our appreciation for what they do, such as Josh Hollingshead, who's work is shown below. As with all our artists, the work really needs to be seen in person to be able to appreciate the qualities that make them so special.
Primavera is renowned for an impressive range of jewellery in a wide variety of styles - all hand-made by UK-based makers. Unique pieces from artists such as Disa Allsopp (shown below) are available in our King's Parade gallery or from our online shop.
We hope you can come and visit us at King's Parade in Cambridge to see these pieces for yourself, but if you can't make it, then we are always adding work to our online shop, where you can also sign up to our email list to receive a regular newsletter with features, offers and details of exhibitions and events.
All the best.
]]>Sourcing the wide range of work which Primavera is proud to exhibit certainly doesn’t happen by chance. We are often proactive and get out there to shows such as the annual Goldsmith’s Fair in London (see left) where many of our jewellery makers exhibit over the two weeks and there is the opportunity to meet new jewellers at the same time.
The British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate is also an excellent chance to meet many of the up and coming makers as well as old favourites.
Quite often artists will make an approach to us direct and ask to show their work at Primavera. While this is quite flattering, there is an important opportunity here to help to promote these artists especially as many are just starting out.
This philanthropic approach has been at the core of Primavera since Henry Rothschild formed the business over 70 years ago. A lovely example of this was the day on which Henry noticed a local potter, Elspeth Owen, selling her ceramic work on the market. Immediately impressed with what he saw, he took her work straight into an exhibition which he was co curating at Kettle’s Yard. And so began another lifelong successful career.
Another way in which we identify new work is simply by spending time with our makers. Having that “back story” often makes the work we show even more interesting. Recently we were speaking to a local cabinet maker about some jewellery boxes which he was making for us and he mentioned that his mother made some beautiful ceramic pieces. We are now proudly displaying mother and son’s work together as shown below, thank you Selena and Adam Bragg.
Of course, if we can do it locally, that is always satisfying. Many of our makers are local to Cambridge and we have a permanent exhibition for the Cambridge Jeweller’s Guild, a collective of a few of the best local jewellery makers. A range of their current work is shown below.
And then there are always the customers who come in wearing something particularly nice and interesting……
Julian Finbow
To visit our on-line shop just follow; www.primaveragallery.co.uk
]]>Every glance is as interesting as the last. Customers often spend hours, exploring and discovering our vast range of art and crafts.
With three floors, we welcome you to get lost in our wonderful gallery and absorb all of the beautiful pieces. From sparkly diamond jewellery by renowned artists Malcolm Betts and Wendy Ramshaw, to magnificent pots of all kinds made in various ways including: raku, glazed, unglazed, smoked fired, wax resist, salt glazed, lusterware; blue, white, red, gold… and more, there is so much to choose from you will be spoilt for choice, and that is only the ceramics and jewellery!
We also have glassware; definitely the finest collection of glass scent bottles in Cambridge, but also textiles, sculptures, wood in formations of bowls, fruit and animal sculpture.
We have a wonderful range of original paintings and limited edition prints, many by local well known artists such as Naomi Davies, Sonia Villiers and Tess Recordon; who also sell us their cards. A beautifully handmade card always makes someone smile and adds that extra special special to a well thought of gift. We have unique handmade wrapping paper too and can gift wrap with our ribbon for you.
70 years on, Primavera is still here continuing to showcase the highest quality of contemporary art and craft in Cambridge.
In more recent years our jewellery collection has increased hugely to become arguably the largest independent collection of fine handmade jewellery in Britain. Do visit us on King’s Parade, Cambridge and experience our infamous revolving cabinets where much of the beautiful jewellery is on display. There are so many talented artists in Britain today and to think of original ideas is a challenge; we are so lucky to have such a large collection of stunning original jewellery all designed and handmade by individual jewellers here in Cambridge.
We also have our lovely new website and note we are still uploading items so not everything is on here yet! Any queries or if you would like more information please do not hesitate to contact us. We have friendly, welcoming and knowledgeable staff here at Primavera who are more than happy to help.
Written by Rosie and Sophie.
]]>So what makes a good diamond? Well, a diamond’s quality is usually measured with the four “C’s”;
1) Carat. This is simply a measurement of the weight of a diamond with 1 carat equalling 200mg. Interestingly the term carat derives from the ancient Greek name for the Carob seed which was thought to sufficiently uniform to use as a measure for gemstones!
2) Clarity. Clarity relates to the purity of the diamond and whether there are inclusions or blemishes within the stone.
3) Colour. Diamonds are often valued by how colourless they are. The absence of colour enables white light to reflect and diffract better and to give that sparkle, often referred to as “fire”.However some diamonds naturally occur with strong blues and pinks and these extremely rare diamonds command high prices. Sothebys recently sold the Apollo and Artemis earrings for £44.4m.
4) Cut. The diamond cut is probably the most important of the four “C’s”. The cut is a reference to the diamond’s reflective qualities enhanced by the overall shape.
If I was ever allowed to cut a raw diamond, it would probably end up dull and lifeless but a well cut diamond will bounce light through the “table” and reflect from one side to the other and back out again. This light is the brilliance associated with diamonds and it is this flashing, fiery effect that makes diamonds so mesmerising.
Cambridge jeweller, Sarah Palmer, is currently exhibiting a collection of her 18ct reticulated gold rings which show the different diamond cuts.
From left to right; Princess, Trillion, Brilliant (x2) and Marquise cut diamonds.
Visit Primavera and enjoy what is probably the largest, independently owned jewellery collection in the UK. You might even take something sparkly away with you.....
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In the space where we had reflective, thoughtful interior paintings by Cambridge artist Clio Lloyd-Jacob https://lloyd-jacob.com/ in July -which was featured in the Independent Cambridge Newsletter.- we have now changed it to the dramatic, colourful figurative paintings by another local Cambridge based artist Gemma Corvalan.
Gemma’s pen and watercolour originals have intriguing depth as she is reflecting on the deeper emotions rather than depicting the outward projection representation of life. This way of painting has resonated from the physical pain which Gemma is in everyday from the chronic illness she suffers from.
Gemma was diagnosed with ME at a young age and at the initial stages she felt like she had lost her art career as she was unable even to hold a paint brush. Art had always been a part of her life from growing up in the art world to higher education and her career so to have stopped with her diagnosis was terrible.
Nevertheless she kept strong and tried watercolour; a medium she was not familiar with. Through watercolours and other liquid based mediums Gemma was once again able to paint; an integral part of her life. The style manifested naturally with what she was physically capable of doing. And just like in life, she had to learn to be comfortable with having a lack of control, and so embrace the watercolours natural unpredictable application. She says “I found myself completely drawn to this beautiful watery substance.”
Art has guided Gemma and today she feels it is the only tool in which she can express the thoughts and feeling that she simply cannot describe or recognise otherwise. She enjoys the way watercolours move and creep over her works, creating overlapping, intricate patterns perfect for her to highlight and as she states “celebrate its natural imperfections as I learnt to celebrate my own.” Art is like an old friend for her, helping her through a process of self-acceptance and discovery.
This is the reason why I personally am fascinated and love art because I like the countless ways different people have their various stories and depict their representation of the world through art. I invite you all to see this stunning vibrant heart-warming artwork and to catch a glimpse into Gemma’s chronic world.
To browse work by Gemma that is held by Primavera, visit the Online Shop.
]]>‘The limes’, is much like other work by Clio Lloyd-Jacob, in that an apparently domestic scene unravels and is transcended the more it is viewed and contemplated. At first glance, we see a workshop in confident disarray. Pieces of wood lean in the corner, several miscellaneous objects are hung or shelved, including a winter coat, which furthers the aesthetic of a comfortable setting. But as time goes on a viewer may come to notice the visible innards of the piano, and how this is echoed by the hung up tools that resemble a rib cage. What is made here? Is she the only creator?
We are greeted into the space with muted but familiar colours, the earthy and man made hues of everyday life. The limited use of colour allows us to view the piece as a whole, yet we are still drawn to the red of the piano and the window, which glows an ambient yellow light. Each area of the composition is stylistically and carefully rendered using tonal range and visible brush strokes, for example the seat of the grey chair.
The lone subject remains anonymous to us, we see only the back of her head. Are we really invited to see her? We cannot see her eyes - are they on the piano or the window? Or are they glazed over in thought? The blue of her jumper and the matching blue of the hanging coat suggests that it belongs to her, so we can speculate that she is alone. Yet we are not rewarded with many more answers, there remains a secrecy in the domesticity; an intimacy only truly known by the artist and her work. The piece could be seen as about our private thoughts and the relations between us and our surroundings.
]]>This series of blogs will, over the coming months, explore some of the background to our collection by focusing as much on the materials and techniques as the makers themselves.We will consider questions as simple as “exactly what is a Carat?” and “why are Rubies usually red” as well as giving practical tips for the care of your jewellery to ensure that you can continue to get a lifetime of enjoyment from it.
Gemstones are produced naturally, deep in the earth’s crust, where temperatures and pressures combine to provide an environment where they can form and absorb other available elements which in turn give them their individual characteristics. Ruby and Peridot are both very popular gemstones used in contemporary jewellery.
As with all gemstones there is some basic chemistry involved whereby the addition of ions of an outside material (in the case of the ruby it is Chromium) changes the light energy absorption to give an overall single colour. In the case of the ruby it leaves a range of shades of red from the lovely deep red usually associated with rubies through to a lighter pink, although these are sometimes classified as Sapphires.
In Peridot it is the inclusion of Iron which determines the hue of the usual olive green stone which works particularly well in a yellow gold setting.
This process of “contamination” means that Corundum gives Sapphire its fantastic blue colour, while other gemstones such as Tourmaline display across a much wider colour range depending on their chemical make up.
Even Diamonds are available in a colour range although generally yellow, through to brown and black. Talking of diamonds, I will be taking a deeper look at our favourite gemstone in the next blog.
If in the meantime you have any questions or would like some more information do feel free to contact us at contactprimavera@aol.com
Architecture is sometimes referred to as being the “mother of art” and our location in Cambridge gives a daily reminder of this direct connection. Vicki Ambery-Smith takes her inspiration from architecture on an international scale and creates wonderful interpretations of both classical and contemporary buildings which we are already familiar with.
And it is this interpretation which marks Vicki’s work as exceptional. The pieces are not always straight forward copies of architecture but are often “a more personal interpretation of the character of a building” and so have the power to evoke sensations, trigger memories and inspire fantasy.
So what happens if we continue the theme of interpretation of known architectural landmarks and move from jewellery to the canvas? For me, local artist Sonia Villiers shows just what can be achieved with a combination of a trained eye for the cityscape and a bold and colourful imagination. Who can fail to associate with the detail of the street life superimposed against a vibrant backdrop of familiar, yet slightly abstract landmarks. The strength in Sonia’s colours coupled with her brave re-shaping of traditional architectural lines makes the viewer’s heart leap with an appreciative joy.
If we come full circle then Cambridge architect, David Valinsky, is a perfect example of the idea of architecture being the “mother of art” in his beautifully simple but technical pen and ink drawings. From the soft lines of “Entrance to New Court, St John’s” where David’s use of light and shadow just draws the eye through to the to the simplicity of the proposals for the Place de L’Eglise here is a prime example of the creation of an artistic statement which takes architectural skills from the drawing board to engage with human emotions.
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