Caius wins Young Metalworker of the Year Award 2024
3rd December 2024 | ANNOUNCEMENTS | OUR STORIES
Glasgow silver spinner Caius Bearder has won the second annual Young Metalworker of the Year Award, supported through a donation by Lucy and Laurence Butcher, including a £1,000 prize awarded at a special presentation at Eltham Palace on Tuesday 26 November 2024.
The award, now in its second year, celebrates a young metalworker who has made an outstanding start to their craft career. The winner is highly skilled amongst their peers, whilst raising the perceived value of their craft through sharing and awareness raising. They have given themselves a fantastic chance of achieving long-term success, perhaps overcoming disadvantage or setbacks along the way.
Caius Bearder is a silversmith studying silver spinning with Sheffield master craftsman and current Precious Metalworker of the Year Warren Martin. During the time he has spent with Warren he has been meticulous in everything he does, demonstrating exceptionally fast learning and extreme competence. He is also a very generous teacher himself, having supported students at Glasgow School of Art whilst as an artist-in-residence, and latterly as a technician, passing on his skills he learnt from Warren.
The two other finalists for the award were Caitlin Murphy, who graduated in silversmithing and jewellery from the Glasgow School of Art and the postgraduate course at Bishopsland Educational Trust, and Zac Parrott, who has trained with blacksmith Peter Fenton, to make tool and decorative and functional ironwork, including a very accomplished Irish farm gate.
Photo: Caius Bearder, winner of the 2024 Young Metalworker of the Year Award, and Lucy Butcher, Heritage Crafts Benefactor. Photo by Robert Wade.