Ray Hood, one of the world’s leading master hand engravers, has established a workshop in Adelaide and is now offering his services to jewellery retailers around the country.
Hood, who completed his apprenticeship with Garrards, the Crown Jeweller of the UK charged with the upkeep of the British Crown Jewels from 1843 to 2007, moved to Adelaide late last year in pursuit of “a more laid back lifestyle” and the desire to introduce “an old art form to a younger market”.
Prior to his arrival, Hood was well established as a master engraver in London where his list of accomplishments include engraving jewellery for Links of London and Tiffany & Co as well as an array of prestigious sporting awards including The Wimbledon tennis trophies, the Augusta Masters golf trophy, the English Premier League football winner’s trophy and the FIA Formula One World Championship driver’s trophy.
Hood has further added to the list since his arrival by working for Adelaide’s Gerard McCabe Jewellers where he has completed numerous engraving assignments for customers as well as a “six-week” engraving of the city’s historic Adelaide Arcade on a sterling silver salver.
Store owner Gerard McCabe said he “immediately recognised the unique opportunity that Ray’s hand engraving and creative design skills presented”.
“It’s not often that a true craftsman in hand engraving arrives on your doorstep so when fate brought Ray and I together, I knew it was time for my long-held dream to become reality,” he said.
“I’ve had a long association with the Adelaide Arcade (which was built in 1885 and is the last significant 19th Century retail building in Adelaide that continues to exist in its original style) and have always wanted to record, in a manner befitting a jewellery business, the timeless story of the Arcade with the equally enduring craftsmanship of hand engraving.”
Hood spent two weeks hand engraving the design in the Arcade so that the public could watch his craftsmanship in progress.
Hood concludes that although he doesn’t yet know what his future assignments will be in Australia, he is confident he can meet almost any engraving request.
“I can replicate photos of almost anything (peoples, places and animals) as well as monograms, family crests or even fingerprints,” he said.
“Hand engraving is an antique art form. It delivers a truly unique piece of jewellery limited only by imagination.”
For more information contact Ray Hood at londonengraver@gmail.com