In the summer of 1947 a befreckled four year old boy was sitting on the wall outside his home at 2 Ballifeary Lane in Inverness. Lined up alongside him were five little drawings marked at 1/2d and his father’s upturned policeman’s hat.

 

Before too long the drawings had gone and the hat, much to the young Norman Grant’s delight, had five halfpennies in it. In later life he was to laughingly say, ‘These kind customers weren’t to know that this solo exhibition was perhaps the birth of a lifelong career in art and design!’ Nor was he to know that this little event epitomised two of his talents that would create the mainstay of his life’s work, that for art and design and that for business.

 

These were to lead to him becoming one of Scotland’s most celebrated and highly regarded silversmiths and jewellery makers. Scottish jewellery designers often create remarkably modern designs strongly influenced by long-established historical and uniquely Scottish traditions. This is certainly true of the very beautiful gold, silver and enamel jewellery designed and made by Norman Grant who was born in the Scottish Highlands into a family heritage imbued with love of the land and its history.