Articles

United Kingdom

06/24/2024

My 10-Day Internship at a Leading Metal Casting Company

Birmingham Sidelights, RC90, and Microscopes Fuse Traditional Methods with Cutting-Edge Technology

By Abigail Ellen Pontefract

Last year, Abigail Ellen Pontefract won an award from the casting company Weston Beamor. The prize included a mentorship that allowed her to design and produce one piece of jewelry at the company’s headquarters. Find out how she spent her two weeks there.

$Abigail Ellen Pontefract, Perming Your Ears (Gold)$

$Abigail Ellen Pontefract (at center) winning the award at New Designers, in London, 2023$

$Abigail Ellen Pontefract’s Claddagh ring “makeover” sketch$

$Abigail Ellen Pontefract’s final design on Matrix$

$1.26.2024, DAY 5: LEARNING ABOUT TEXTURES. LOCATION: WESTON BEAMOR OFFICE. On my final day with the CAD department, I used all the tools and techniques I learned from the team to finalize my design. I had some time left and wanted to challenge myself by designing a hair-like textured piece using their software. Gabi, Weston Beamor’s CAD and 3D-printing coordinator, demonstrated the company’s innovative qualities by showing me how to make the design using Rhino. It was challenging but rewarding! As the first week drew to a close, my design was sent out for printing in wax, and I was excited to find out what Week 2 had in store. <em>Caption:</em> Hair-like textured designs rendered using Rhino, 2024, photo: Abigail Ellen Pontefract$

Attaching sprued red wax pieces to a tree

Members of the casting team overseeing the casting process

Preparing the cast metal for stone setting by filing and buffing

Setting stones in the micro-setting department

$Abigail Ellen Pontefract, The Claddagh Ring Reborn—The Final Outcome$

Author

$Abigail Ellen Pontefract$

Abigail Ellen Pontefract

Abigail Ellen Pontefract (b. 2000) is a British jewelry and accessories designer. Her work involves transforming everyday objects like hair rollers into ornaments we adorn ourselves with. Her most recent and award-winning collection, Perming Your Ears, celebrates the ceremony of getting ready and explores the dichotomy between the intimacy of getting ready and the absurdity of a circus. Pontefract’s studies began in 2019, at Central Saint Martins, in London, where she completed her art foundation. Soon after moving to Glasgow to study for her BA (Hons) degree in jewelry and silversmithing, she completed a study abroad program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Pontefract graduated from The Glasgow School of Art last summer and has since relocated to The Lake District, UK. @abbatiajewellery
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Articles

My 10-Day Internship at a Leading Metal Casting Company

Birmingham Sidelights, RC90, and Microscopes Fuse Traditional Methods with Cutting-Edge Technology

By Abigail Ellen Pontefract

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