Making Pewter Candlesticks
No amount of reading or research could prepare us for our visit to the pewter factory in Birmingham. We’ve long wanted to explore the possibilities of pewter, and seeing the way the makers work with this material allowed us to learn more than we could have hoped from external research. Firstly, it was striking to see the different ways in which pewter can appear; from a solid silver shine on a clean cut edge, to the darker, textured richness of a raw, pitted surface. These are both qualities we wanted to capture and stand in contrast when designing these candlesticks.
We always research a new material or manufacturing technique in depth before we begin designing a product. In this case it meant we had a clear idea of what we wanted to produce when we first met our pewter makers thus speeding up collaboration on design and sampling. Manufacturing a new product can take anything from two months to over a year before a design reaches the shelves. The expertise and skills of the makers informed our design for the candlestick range right up until the final stages when every last detail is refined.
The pewter starts as solid ingots which are heated until they turn molten. This liquid metal is carefully ladled into the prepared moulds one by one. Pewter casting is a process that has remained almost unchanged for generations. Many of the tools and original moulds used in the factory today have been in use for decades. Each piece is finished on site using a combination of polishing and patination techniques.
