Biography
Alistair McCallum (b. Middlesbrough, UK 1953) is a London-based silversmith and a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. McCallum is known for experimenting with the ancient Japanese technique of Mokumé Gane (wood grain metal), producing an individual body of work with is own intricately patterned surfaces. He studied at Loughborough College of Art and graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 1978 when he then visited Japan. At the time the technique, which involves building a sandwich of contrasting metals between five and 128 layers, and then cutting through them to expose the different colours creating a distinctive pattern, was largely unknown in the UK and practised by very few British silversmiths, which alloowed McCallum to develop his own distinctive version of the process. He taught at West Dean College, Chichester, West Sussex. His work is represented in many private and public collections in the UK and abroad including the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, the Royal Museum of Scotland and the Gallery of Western Australia, Perth.
