The Lifetime Achievement Award

Penelope (also known as Pope) and Oliver Makower’s support for contemporary silversmithing has been a lifelong partnership. 

 After selling their family textile business in Australia, Pope and Oliver set up the P&O Makower Charitable Trust in 1974. Initially it began to focus on supporting young designers and silversmiths. In time the Trust started commissioning new work - initially from RCA graduates with encouragement from silversmith Gerard Benney and Shirley Bury at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Now commissions are sought from young makers around the world who are based in the UK. Commissions are developed in partnership with, and then loaned to, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the national museums of Wales and Scotland. The collection is a living record of contemporary design and making from the 1970’s but the passion and dedication to developing the next generation of silversmiths supported by Pope and Oliver has spanned over 50 years. 

 Pope and Oliver purchased a derelict Bishopsland in 1988. It was acquired with the knowledge and foresight that silversmithing was a craft that needed nurturing in a residential environment. But the missing element was the passing on of hand skills, in the old master & apprentice relationship. Pope started sharing workshop space with local silversmiths, which was formalised in 1993 when 3 graduates lived in and used the workshop. Five came the second year, then seven, and such was the demand that over the years, and with support from so many generous and visionary benefactors, Bishopsland now accommodates up to 10 designers a year.

 Bishopsland’s ethos combines an eye for detail with commercial considerations. “Up to standard and out on time” is a refrain that all Bishopslanders will have heard. The commercial imperative is never far away, be that selling work, teaching the next generation or understanding how to develop connections and commissions. The Bishopsland Standard is a set of achievable targets based on 20 years’ experience for young people to aspire to and which marks out independent makers. It covers skills, production, stock management, marketing and how to make a living as a designer-maker. Taught through master classes, one-on-one tutoring and personal mentoring, the programme has introduced young makers to the challenges of being independent makers. 

Pope says: “It has been an absolute privilege, with Oliver’s continuous support, to have helped, over thirty years, somewhere between 3 and 14 ‘Bishopsland gang’ per year. When they leave us they become Fellows of Bishopsland. Our recent statistics show that over 75% of our Bishopsland Fellows are still working at the bench so I guess, in some way, we have achieved what we set out to do. Maybe it is not so surprising more than half of these hugely creative gutsy young designers describe themselves as dyslexic and say they cannot do maths. I see my young self in them every day.”