MBE for silversmith Rauni Higson in the New Year Honours

Silversmith Rauni Higson has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours, in recognition of her unparalleled craftsmanship and tireless work in ensuring her skills are passed on to future generations.

Rauni was nominated by Heritage Crafts for this year’s Honours, following 31 other successful nominations since 2013. The charitable organisation – which was set up in 2009 to support and champion traditional craft skills – believes that the vernacular craft skills practised across the UK deserve as much recognition as other popularly-celebrated forms of culture.

Rauni’s journey into silver began in 1992 on a degree course in Lahti, Finland. She continued her final year of studies at the Birmingham School of Jewellery and has been a self-employed silversmith since 1997, during which time she has received countless private and public commissions including the Prince Phillip Challenge Trophy for Henley Royal Regatta and the Goldsmiths’ Cup for HMS Prince of Wales.

As Chair of Contemporary British Silversmiths from 2014 to 2017, she set up its Skills Training Programme, supported by the Goldsmiths’ Centre, which has provided unprecedented opportunities for over 200 active members, both recent graduates and experienced makers, to progress their skills to the highest level.

As well as initiating this programme, her active involvement as a tutor has demonstrated her profound personal commitment to the transmission of these skills. By setting up and fronting the programme, she has changed the face of the industry and made the UK a beacon of silversmithing skills for others around the world.

Heritage Crafts Executive Director Daniel Carpenter said:

“We are thrilled that Rauni has been recognised in the New Year Honours. Having traditional craftspeople up there with other great luminaries of public life in this way is vitally important, and Rauni’s dedication to passing the skills of silversmithing is truly remarkable and has had a profound impact on the craft and its community.”

Heritage Crafts encourages anyone who supports the continuation of traditional craft skills, whether or not they are makers themselves, to join the organisation as a member via its website www.heritagecrafts.org.uk.