Alan Preston (jeweller)

Early life

Preston completed a Masters of Science in Psychology at the University of Canterbury in 1967 and took jewellery classes at the Camden Institute, London, in 1973.

Fingers gallery

In 1974, after a stint as a Guest Artist at Brown's Mill Market, New Zealand’s first craft co-operative, in Auckland, Preston approached jewellers Ruth Baird, Roy Mason, Margaret Philips and Michael Ayling to open a jewellery shop called Fingers on Auckland's Lorne Street. Fingers, which moved to Kitchener Street, its current location, in 1987, is now New Zealand's longest running contemporary jewellery gallery.

Career and style

After a 1979 trip to Fiji Preston began to incorporate forms and materials from Pacific adornment, including the use of shell, coconut shell and fibre, into his work. In 1983, Preston and fellow jeweller Warwick Freeman were asked by James Mack, then director of The Dowse Art Museum, to select items from the Auckland Museum's collection for an 1984 exhibition at The Dowse titled Pacific Adornment.

Preston was one of twelve jewellers selected for the landmark 1988 Bone Stone Shell exhibition, developed by New Zealand's Craft Council for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and shown in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The exhibition was restaged at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in 2013. His work has been shown widely in New Zealand and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Dowse Art Museum in 2007, the Auckland War Memorial Museum in 2009, and inclusion in the touring exhibition 'Wunderrūma: New Zealand Jewellery' in 2014.

Recognition

Preston's work is held in many public collections including The Dowse Art Museum, the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and Auckland War Memorial Museum.