Mastery of Design: A Diamond Star, 1975

Diamond Star
Stuart Devlin
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I don’t often feature objects which were made during my own lifetime. But, every once in awhile, one impresses me enough that I want to tell you about it.
This star-shaped brooch was made in 1975 and is comprised of an openwork design made up of the massed bodies of tiny pin men. around a diamond-encrusted hemisphere.

This is the work of Stuart Devlin who was among a group of jewelers based in London who joined together in the 1960s to produce works which were truly cutting-edge. They experimented with contemporary shapes and media and explored new ways of applying gold and setting gems.

Their work was extremely popular with Society ladies who were looking for new ways of expressing their wealth and status.

Devlin was born in Australia and attended the Royal College of Art in London in 1958 before moving to Columbia University in the U.S. By 1965, he’d opened his own London workshop where he designed jewelry, silver, trophies, coinage, medallions, furniture and interiors. He was granted the Royal Warrant of “Goldsmith and Jeweller” to Her Majesty the Queen in 1982.