YORKSHIRE POST

SATURDAY JANUARY 11 2O14

my yorkshire...

Kath Libbert

Having grown up in London, Kath Libbert went via Brighton University before moving to Leeds in the 1980s. Since 1996, the jewellery designer has run her eponymous gallery in the Salts Mill development in Saltaire. She now lives in the Yorkshire Dales.

What's your first Yorkshire memory?

Actually it is a strong memory and one that when I started to think about it made me feel rather emotional. It was 1980,1 was 21, and had just finished university and was living in Brighton. I came up to Leeds to go on one of the first Reclaim the Night marches as Peter Sutcliffe had just murdered Jacqueline Hill, a young student. Women marched across the streets of the UK making the point that they should not be restricted or blamed for the violence they face.

What's your favourite part of the county - and why?

The Yorkshire Dales - gentle and wild, vivid green against grey dry stone covered in moss. Lambs, rabbits, partridges - just beautiful. I am not a religious or even a spiritual person, but I often find myself muttering 'God's own country' as I drive home from work up the single lane track to our home in North Yorkshire.

What's your idea of a perfect day, or a perfect weekend, out in Yorkshire?

A bit of a play with Pushkin our new kitten then off for a bike ride to Bumsall cafe for a brilliant cooked breakfast, maybe a game of tennis with my partner Jon, then over to see an exhibition in the afternoon. The Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a favourite and I'm very excited about the new contemporary art space The Tetiey in Leeds. To end the day a good meal with friends followed by a game of canasta.

Do you have a favourite walk - or view?

All the views from our house in the heart of Wharfedale are wonderful, even when it pours I love to see the wildness of the weather bearing down on us. A lovely short summer walk close by is to go upstream from Grassington along the Wharfe have a quick dip and then back to Grassington for an early evening drink and hearty meal at the friendly Forester's Arms followed by a game of pool.

Which Yorkshire sportsman, past or present would you like to take for lunch?

Well I am not sure about taking him to lunch, but I have been so helped in my tennis playing by Simon Ickringill, the head coach at Ilkley Lawn Tennis Club. He's an inspirational teacher and player who has a great facility for bringing out the best in me and not focusing on die fact that I ain't never going to be Azarenka even though I do use the same racquet and exclaim a lot!

Which Yorkshire stage or screen star, past or present would you like to take for dinner?

Dame Judi Dench - a fantastic actress, supremely versatile, characterful, and gorgeous too. Jon recently introduced me to a powerful early BBC drama called Talking to a Stranger by John Hopkins starring a very young Dame Judi - it is subtitled Anytime You 're Ready I'll Sparkle and this is exactly what she does - always.

What do you think gives Yorkshire its unique identity?

I am not sure it has just one identity, it is such a varied county which is its strength, so much to experience and enjoy from the beaches of Bridlington to the elegance of Harrogate and the wilds of the Dales. And I've always found Yorkshire people extremely friendly and hospitable which has helped this Londoner feel at home.

Do you have a favourite restaurant, or pub?

The Ilkley Moor Vaults never disappoints, a small but delicious menu all home cooked, often home grown and home smoked. Try Sabi's smoked sausage with pickled peppers and the most wonderful sourdough bread I have ever tasted! Also the owners and staff are delightful.

Do you have a favourite food shop?

I love a pork pie once in a while and Stanforths in Skipton is the business!

How do you think that Yorkshire has changed, for better or for worse, in the time that you've known it?

Having been brought up in North London and then university in Brighton, when I moved to Leeds aged 23 I did feel there was not a lot going on culturally but that has changed massively over the last 30 years. The incredible Victorian architecture has been brought back to life and is now tastefully complemented by modern interventions such as Trinity - which has a great bar, Angelicas, with fantastic city views. The Hepworth in Wakefield is another great addition to the local cultural landscape.

Who is the Yorkshire person that you most admire?

It has to be Jonathan Silver, most well known for buying Salts Mill and reinvigorating not only it but the surrounding village of Saltaire which has since 2001 been a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hugely enterprising, a creative innovator, a risk taker he used culture and art as a driver for regenerating a run-down area.

Has Yorkshire influenced your work?

Well firstly there are some excellent jewellers and silversmiths in Yorkshire, who we show on a regular basis at the gallery. I initiated an exhibition called Great Yorkshire Talent in collaboration with The Great Yorkshire Show, a competition for Yorkshire jewellers to enter one piece of jewellery inspired by the judging categories in the show, so lots of silver sheep, bees and bulls - great fun.

Name your favourite Yorkshire book/author/artistfCD/performer.

Can I have Andy Goldsworthy? I know he was born in Cheshire but he did spend most of his formative years in Yorkshire! I went to a wonderful Goldsworthy exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park a few years ago and was just delighted by his installations, particularly his giant but oh so delicate Leaf Stalk Room, a screen of horse chestnut leaf stems held in place entirely by black thorns.

If a stranger to Yorkshire only had time to visit one place. It would be?

Salts Mill A very unique place - a fantastically creative use of an amazing Victorian textile mill in a beautiful setting. Great art to enjoy, delicious Salts Diner food, a wonderful selection of designer home wares, an unusual book shop - I just love it and feel so privileged to have been a part of it for the last 17 years.

Fragments - Nine New Graduates Find Their Place, Kath libbert Gallery, Salts Mill to January 26.

www.katlhlibbertjewellery.co.uk

FINDINGS

SPRING 2017

Collecting Conversations

Collecting, Curating and Engaging.... My personal journey to becoming a promoter of jewellery in all its multifaceted forms!

Kath Libbert

I never dreamed I would be doing what I do - so when I was asked if I would write this article I was interested to accept the challenge of taking a look, reflecting on my personal trajectory. How did I get here, why do I do what I do, and what is distinctive about it?

When I start to take a look back I do in fact see all kinds of links and connections both frorn my past career in community work and then in NHS adult mental health, but also from within my own early family life.

So where to start ... I grew up in north London in a middle class family, both parents Jewish but we were not brought up with this as a religion but culturally it was a feature, in particular from my mother who was Czech and whose family had to flee the Nazis. She had come from a highly cultured background where the classical arts and collecting was prized but also contemporary design embraced. My mother's aunt was Grete Tugendhat who along with her husband Fritz commissioned the now famous Mies van de Rohe Villa Tugendhat in Brno. Although, of course, all of this way of life was abruptly stopped by the Nazis, the sensibility of my mother's family lived on and I was surrounded by early Scandinavian design classics in my home alongside my mother's collection of Kilim rugs, and my father's interest in collecting drawings. All of which I rejected as a child, a cultural snobbery I felt, though I did also recognise their genuine passion for these things.

From this background I chose a professional path that was outside either of my parent's domain - they could not pass comment because they had no knowledge! I was free to make my own way and that was always working with people – first children, running play schemes, then in family centres and finally putting to use my psychology degree combined with my great interest in the power of analytic-based psychotherapy to engage and help, working for 13 years as an NHS counselling psychologist in Leeds and Bradford. It was whilst doing this job around the late 1980s that I started to enjoy collecting and wearing contemporary British jewellery and this then led on to taking a table top at the Corn Exchange in Leeds and selling it - which I did every weekend for a couple of years from 1994, as well as holding jewellery 'Tupperware' style parties at friends' houses! All along I never imagined that this would lead to setting up a full-time jewellery gallery. But in the serendipitous way that my most significant life changes seem to have occurred, my personal passion for visiting Salts Mill, a wonderful ltalianate Victorian textile mill, with a very special interestingly curated collection of work by David Hockney, became a bit more than that and led to an invitation from owner Jonathan Silver to set up a permanent gallery within Salts Mill.

Salts Mill is a democratic kind of place - it is free, it is open plan, it is full of innovative art and design, it attracts a very diverse range of visitors and as such gave me a wonderful opportunity to present radical contemporary jewellery from all over the world to people most of whom would never go into a more conventional art jewellery gallery. For the first five years however, as I also continued to work part-time for the Health Service, I focussed on promoting striking UK jewellers, many of whom I still represent. Then on leaving the NHS so I could really develop the gallery, I began my foray into the fascinating world of international art jewellery. €uromix in 2002 marked the year of the Euro with 'Diverse Jewels from the Continent' and featured the late Nel Linssen with her amazingly elegant complex folded paper jewellery and Felieke van der Leest's quirky, crocheted red Sperm Hearts and costumed Emperor penguins! Distinto/Distinct - a collaboration I initiated with Hipotesi, a wonderful jewellery gallery in Barcelona, presented six British Jewellers in Barcelona and six Catalan jewellers at Salts Mill along with a Talk & Tapas event to help engage our collectors and similar events in Barcelona to promote the UK jewellers. Czech it Out - ignited by my desire to make new, meaningful connections with the country that my mother had come from, was a survey of the best in new Czech art jewellery and led to my meeting and continuing to represent the wonderfully skilful finger-knitted wire work of Blanka Sperkova - who opened the exhibition with a fascinating talk and demo of her work.

Everything I choose is from a very personal aesthetic, it has to arouse my curiosity, provoke a reaction in me, possess beauty, and of course be well crafted. I think my early background has undoubtedly led to my confident eye. But having made my selection I am interested in reactions to the work chosen, 'l think it is of interest - now what do you think and feel?' Not so dissimilar really to sitting with someone in therapy - what did that make you feel, how did that affect you, touch you? Curiosity is always to be fostered in life. I choose artists who have this approach to their work, they explore, they create, they question, and they explore some more and so on. To aid this curiosity all our art jewellery exhibitions have an interactive element engaging visitors in safe and playful ways to encourage maximum enjoyment of the work on show. For example, in Matters of Life & Death, we created a physical Chain of Thought on which visitors, after trying on pieces, recorded their strong reactions. For Natural Histrionics we filmed visitors on our specially created mini stage declaiming theatrically their enthusiasm for their chosen piece!

Twenty years on, along with our regular collectors, we have an ever expanding curious clientele who manifestly take great pleasure in exploring the wonderful world of contemporary art jewellery.

FINDINGS

SPRING 2012

THE GALLERY IN SALTS MILL

Justine Brooks meets Kath Libbert in Saltaire

Kath started her gallery in 1996 - embarking on her venture into the curating of wonderful jewellery whilst continuing for the first five years to work part time as a psychologist for the NHS. Sixteen years on and the gallery is now one of the foremost contemporary jewellery galleries in Britain, displaying and selling work by acclaimed international art jewellers and goldsmiths alongside that of new graduates. In a recent article in The Times Luxx Magazine, the gallery was described as 'For clients who want jewels that push boundaries...the antidote to the high street', The Gallery is situated within Salts Mill, a former textile mill in Saltaire that is an arts destination in its own right showing the world's largest permanent collection of work by David Hockney.

(www.saltsmill.org.uk)

I went to see Kath to ask her what makes the gallery stand out, what will visitors find that is unique.

Communication is all important: I want people to engage as fully as possible in the experience of appreciating and enjoying jewellery so we often include a participatory element in our exhibitions. For example with Matters of Life & Death 2011, which included challenging work such as neckpieces made of carbon and horsehair along with a necklace created from sawn-up shotguns, we invited visitors to be photographed wearing a piece that excited, moved, or even revolted.. .and to record rheir response on cards forming an ever growing Chain of Thought hanging from the gallery ceiling, which became an integral part of the exhibition.

Collaboration is also central, I like working with other organisations locally and internationally because of the possibilities this presents for creating interesting exhibitions and expanding audiences. For instance I initiated an exchange exhibition Distinto/Distinct with Hipotesi, a renowned jewellery gallery in Barcelona and with the help of Crafts Council and Arts Council funding took UK jewellers to exhibit in Barcelona and Catalan jewellers came to us! Locally we collaborated with The Great Yorkshire Show to create our own exhibition called Great Yorkshire Talent in which all the work was by local jewellers and had to be inspired by the same judging categories as in the real agricultural show— so lots of animal jewellery!

Basically most of our exhibitions are multi-facetted employing different strategies such as documentaries, competitions, site specific commissions, workshops etc... to engage and enthral!

How do you maintain the identity of the gallery?

We have a very strong house style - with much of the work on show crossing the boundaries between fine art, sculpture, fashion and jewellery. I've always had a very clear aesthetic vision for the gallery. Firstly work has to be well crafted but then it's about surprising me, provoking me, presenting me with something intriguingly beautiful.

How do you select work for the gallery?

It often involves travel! I visit jewellery events and galleries nationally and internationally. The most extraordinary of these is Schmuck, in Munich every spring. It's an exhilarating experience - a meeting place for everyone in the contemporary jewellery world - collectors, gallerists, jewellers. I strive to experience Schmuck with an open mind - waiting to be inspired by work that expresses the Zeitgeist and whilst there I formulate ideas for the gallery's annual summer exhibition.

I like to work with a theme. This can be prompted by external events such as with Matters of Life & Death 2011 an exhibition that explored the responses of nine international jewellery artists to destruction and regeneration coming just after the start of the Arab Spring and Japanese earthquake. At other times the themes are to do with personal passions, as in Czech It Out inspired by my Czech Jewish heritage, and a desire to give a platform to some radical Czech jewellers none of whom had previously exhibited in the UK.

So what are the aims of the gallery?

Just to engage, inspire, and give pleasure, and to sell well for us and the jewellers! To encourage people to consider both the art and the craft of the work we show. Additionally we hold special Collectors' Events, the most recent of which featured Jacqueline Mina OBE in conversation with collector and patron of the ACJ Lady Marie Alexander.

What are the most important aspects of running the gallery successfully?

Relationships! I have a strong commitment to the relationships I form with customers, jewellers and staff. Loyalty to my jewellers is very important to me. Many of the jewellers we represent have exhibited with the gallery from the beginning. I also put a lot of effort into attracting local and national media coverage for the artists. Additionally much time is spent making full web catalogues for all our exhibitions so there is now an extensive archive.

Picture: Kath Libbert, wearing a necklace of pearls and rubber gloves by Min-Ji Cho, and holding a necklace in acrylic dust by Sarah Lindsay.

The Times

LUXX Magazine

27 Nov 2010

Luxury shopping boils down to the quest for the best, Here the experts guide you to the ultimate purchases, from fine watches and covetable gadgets to collectible Scotch and luxe streetwear

The new collectibles

Base materials

WHY NON-PRECIOUS JEWELLERY IS SUDDENLY PRECIOUS

REPORT Maria Doulton PHOTOGRAPH Helen Mellor

Welcome to the brave new world of "art jewellery" and the quirky kingdom of jewels made out of humble, run-of-the-mill materials, a place where the mundane becomes the extraordinary, where paper, acrylic and aluminium are transformed into treasures. "These jewellers are not working in commercial workshops making things to order," says Clare Philips, jewellery curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. "Instead, they go out on a limb because their work is all about self-expression. We are used to thinking of Damien Hirst's work as art, yet still expect jewellery to be pretty and manicured. These jewellers are working with the same freedom as fine artists."

Rene Lalique, of the Art Nouveau movement, was perhaps the first to elevate a base material to new heights, but Dalf, Picasso and Cocteau also dabbled, and helped encourage later names, such as Catherine Noll, who worked in the late 20th century. Catherine Denueve has talked of how Noll's jewels seduced her with their primitive yet sophisticated, African yet modern shapes (pictured on the previous page). Noll was commissioned by couture houses, such as Dior, Nina Ricci and Chanel, and she collaborated with Tiffany and Baccarat. Today, her pieces sell at Harry Fane's London gallery for £1,000 to £10,000.

At the Adrian Sassoon gallery in London, Adam Faxon's work fetches up to 19,000. His writhing, wet-look acrylic forms look like they've been freshly netted from an extraterrestrial rock pool. Joanna Hardy, formerly head of jewellery at Sotheby's, bought a ring by Ines Schwotzer for a few hundred pounds from Kath Libbert's gallery in Bradford. "It's a lace flower made like bobbin lace, but using steel wire," she says. "I don't care if it is stainless steel, as technically it is superb and looks great."

So how to choose between a cornflower ring by Nora Fok and a Douglas Mason crushed Coca- Cola ring? All the experts and gallery owners agree: "Buy what you love." As Philips says: "You have to have an emotional reaction to the piece." Libbert says her clients are interested in jewels that push the boundaries. "We think of ourselves as an antidote to the high street," she says. Harry Fane, Electrum and Lesley Craze, all in London, as well as Libbert and Adrian Sassoon, are all good places to start an education, with knowledgeable staff to guide you.

And the best thing about these works of art? If you tire of wearing them, you can always hang them on the wall.

OWN ART BULLETIN

(Arts Counci England)

16 AUGUST 2010

News

Top tips for collecting contemporary jewellery!

As you’ve probably just read, the fantastic Intoflora exhibition is currently showing at Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery in Saltaire until 26 September 2010. Own Art caught up with Kath, founder and Director of the gallery and curator of this latest show and asked her to offer her top tips on collecting contemporary jewellery.

Why is contemporary jewellery so desirable to collect?

Because it gives pleasure in so many ways! First and foremost the thrill of being adorned in something utterly individual. These art jewels usually look fabulous off the body too, and many of my favourites can be found adorning walls at home, giving me an aesthetic boost.

Is it a good investment?

I recommend people choose a piece first because they love to wear and look at it, but if they also want to be sure it will hold or increase in value then look to collect work by already well known jewellery artists who have won international prizes and are already in significant public and private collections. You can ask the gallery for advice on this.

What is the most exciting piece of work you have personally invested in and why?

Very hard to choose just one! Many years ago I bought a wonderful necklace called 'Equilibrium' by Beppe Kessler, a renown Dutch jeweller, made from burnt balsa wood intricately stitched with thread and studded with tiny beads! A delicate delightful piece that I enjoy greatly. Beppe recently won the Herbert Hofmann Prize, the most prestigious accolade in the art jewellery world!

Any tips for collectors?

We annually hold a significant exhibition of carefully selected New British Graduates, many of whom have gone on to become collectable, so a great place to talent spot and invest early in what could be an antique of the future! 'Cool Construct' - Nine New British Graduates will run from 18th November - 30th January 2011.

We also hold regular Collectors' Events at the gallery with speakers as a way of stimulating interest and increasing knowledge in the whole field of collecting contemporary art jewellery. The next one is on 21st September, please call the gallery on 01274 599790 to book your place or email info@kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk

Are there any other contemporary jewellery events you can recommend visiting over the coming year?

I always go to 'Schmuck' an international art jewellery competition in Munich every March, a fantastic way of seeing all the most exciting new and established talents. 'Collect' at the Saatchi Gallery is also great as it showcases the best of the world's specialist art jewellery galleries.

Don’t forget to visit Intoflora until 26 September 2010 – you can use Own Art there to start your collection!

Picture Caption: Lisa Juen, ling bling brooch, statement floral jewellery, using false nails as petals, part of the current exhibition at Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery until 26 September 2010

YORKSHIRE POST MAGAZINE

26 SEPTEMBER 2009

A GEM IN A FINE SETTING

JEWEL IN THE CROWN ART IN DOMESTIC SURROUNDINGS MAKES KATH LIBBERT’S HOME UNUSUAL AND INSPIRING. JUSTINE GAUNT REPORTS

“Pink is one of my signatures," says Kath Libbert, referring to a glittering pink canvas above her fireplace. "Also birds. Particularly chickens," and she motions towards a portrait of some by a San Francisco-based British artist Thomas Hill on the other side of the room.

It's not surprising to find that Kath has an innate sense of style - quirky style at that. She is the owner of a jewellery gallery in Saltaire that has gained a national and international reputation for cutting-edge and unusual pieces.

Kath set up her jewellery business 15 years ago as a bit of a hobby, alongside a job as a counselling psychologist in adult mental health, but the jewellery business went from strength to strength and she now runs it full-time.

Kath has lived in her Addingham home with partner Jon Crook, a freelance sound technician, for four years now, and in that time the couple have set about transforming the place.

The first thing to go once they moved in was the pink wall-to-wall carpeting in the front room (it was the wrong kind of pink). "We ripped it up on the first day," says Kath, "uncovering these wonderful floorboards." These were cleaned with caustic soda rather than sanded, in order to retain the texture and patina, and given a deep coloured stain. Similarly, all wallpaper had to go, to be replaced by white walls throughout. “I like everything white,” says Kath, "because it gives a clean backdrop. I have tried colour, but I can't live with it. I like the cleanness of white and the fact that I can put lots of colour against it."

Kath and Jon have used this successful formula throughout the house, displaying beautiful objects and brightly coloured fabrics in a fresh and vibrant yet uncluttered manner.

Once ceilings were replastered and windows and fireplaces replaced, the house was indeed ready for Kath to "fill with my quirky things", as she puts it. These include a collection of Staffordshire flatbacks, a few of which are displayed - alongside jewellery from the gallery – on the mantelpiece.

"I like them because they really are quite strange,” says Kath, singling out one of Princess Victoria sitting on a goat. “You just have to ask why?”

As in her gallery, so in her home - Kath is driven by seeking out the distinctive and the unusual. She comes from a strong line of women drawn to doing so. Her greatgrandmother (whose portrait hangs in Kath and Jon's bedroom) commissioned one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture, Mies van der Rohe, to design a family home, the Tugendhat House in Brno. Her mother worked for Finmar, one of the first companies to bring Scandinavian furniture to Britain.

"I love trawling round car boot sales, vintage shops and sale rooms," says Kath as she sits at the same Scandinavian table and chairs in her kitchen that once lived in the

Hampstead home where she grew up. On the table is a Chinese pewter

container from her grandmother's extensive collection of Asian art (now

mostly in a museum) and above us is a sculptural piece of breasts made in

finger-knitted wire by Czech artist Blanka Sperkova. Kath has a passion for chairs, and each of the chairs in the house has a tale, such as the tulip-shaped one in Kath and Jon's bedroom. "I was driving through France about 15 years ago, and there at the end of a village was a tiny market. I saw the chair from the car and had to have it!"

In the spare room are two leather armchairs acquired in similar fashion in

Germany, and one in suede and metal in the sitting room that Kath fell for while on a jewellery buying trip.

Kath and Jon's bedroom is perhaps the most colourful in the house - with a multicoloured crocheted throw, vintage curtains with a design of parrots and flowers and a collection of postcards of Flamenco dancers.

Birds feature again in the white bathroom, where hangs a pair of hand-painted mirrors featuring swans.

"'I spend a lot of time at Salts Mill, but probably equal amounts of time in my office," says Kath, "so it's a room that is really important to me."

Sitting in her Eames chair, she can look up from her computer and out over gardens to Beamsley Beacon.

There is a lovely plan chest, extraordinary pieces of jewellery hung on the walls like the works of art they are and a guest bed draped with a Scandinavian design bedspread found, like many things in the house, at Skipton Antiques.

This room is the creative centre of a truly creative household.

CRAFTS COUNCIL

August, 2008

FEATURED MAKERS

Kath Libbert

From her beginnings as a Saturday trader at Leeds Corn Exchange to being one of the lead speakers at Origin last year, Kath Libbert has certainly changed her life around. Previously an NHS employee, Libbert now runs one of Britain's leading galleries - The Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery - specialising solely in jewellery, silver and metal smithing. Based in the idyllic setting of Salt Mills in West Yorkshire since 1996, Libbert's experience in promoting, exhibiting and selling contemporary jewellery gave her an authoritative role at last years' Origin Retailers Day. During this talk she focused on her professional role representing more than seventy established and emerging artists and makers, including a wide range of British and some International artists. According to Libbert, 'Origin is great when you're thinking about curating. You can collect people there because it's a great place to meet people.' Her jewellery is, she likes to say, wearable art - each object has to be crafted exquisitely - and Origin is one of the best places in the UK to find it.

Yet it is Libbert's exhibition, Now and Then, which is presently occupying much of her time. A collaboration with Susan Rumfitt - of Antique Road Show fame - Now and Then explores four central themes: Power and Politics, Sentiment and Sex, Memento Mori, and the Lighter Side. The exhibition includes new work by Jerwood Applied Arts joint winner Adam Paxon, as well as fine antique jewellery from 1800-1950. Highlights include 'Regard' brooches and rings which, by using a sequence of Ruby, Emerald, Garnet, Amethyst, Ruby and Diamond, demonstrate the visual language used by the Victorians to communicate sentiment. Others included in the show will be well-known Dutch jeweller Ruudt Peters, Danish designer Inger Larsen, and ethical designer Silke Spitzer. With such a range of interesting makers Now and Then promises to be remarkable exhibition - a far cry from such humble beginnings on a market stall in Leeds.

The exhibition opened on the 17th of July, and will include Adam Paxon discussing his work at a special Collectors' Event on the 16th of September, alongside Susan Rumfitt.

TELEGRAPH & ARGUS

18 SEPTEMBER 2001

Kath puts her mind to a gem of a venture. . .

Kath Libbert admits she took a risk when she gave up her job as a psychologist to run her contemporary jewellery business full-time - but it was a risk worth taking, as Sally Clfford reports.

Flicking through her portfolio while sipping from a coffee cup in Salts Mill, Kath Libbert is modestly proud of her achievements as she recaps on a career which has taken more twists and turns than a rollercoaster ride.

The 42-year-old, who originates from London, is clearly at home in the mill surroundings.

That's understandable when you consider her mother Margaret, who now lives in Canada, came from a mill-owning family, and it's believed one of their relations may have worked at Salts when it was a textile mill.

Kath's work involves showcasing and selling work by up-and-coming British jewellery designers.

The business, which was launched at Salts in 1996, is becoming internationally-renowned throughout the world of contemporary jewellery.

Up until now Kath has worked exclusively with British designers, but she is now developing her business as a platform for international talent with her first international show in November - Schmuck - showcasing work by five German jewellers, and an exchange exhibition with an established gallery in Barcelona is planned for next summer.

But Kath's career started out very differently. Initially, after finishing her psychology degree at Sussex University, where she also found time to do a jewellery course in the evening, she worked on various community-based projects.

Her first post was helping to set up facilities for teenage girls in Brighton, before moving North to help homeless teenagers in Leeds.

Kath's role in youth and community work eventually brought her to Bradford where she worked with the city's Family Service Unit before returning to Leeds to work in community health services - a role which finally enabled her to put her psychology into practice.

But, despite her busy workload, she still found time to fulfIl her hobby - jewellery. Weekends were taken up with travelling to craft and trade fairs where, gradually, she learned her trade and got to know all the up-and-coming jewellery designers. This was to stand her in good stead for the future. Eventually she started buying work from designers which she sold from a table at Leeds Corn Exchange, and she also did jewellery parties. But her ambition was to set up her own business. She had already found the perfect location - Salts Mill.

Initially Kath juggled running the business with her psychologist's role, until she fInally threw caution to the wind and gave her job up in November to concentrate solely on the business. She knew it was a risk and even her mum was concerned it was a 'flight of fancy.'

"I think she thought 1 wouldn't stick to it," said Kath.

But it wasn't a dramatic career change as she thought - she was still helping people but instead of sorting out people's problems and helping them to turn their lives round, she was providing a platform to promote talented people.

She says the job has helped her to spread her wings and given her the opportunity to travel to some of the most beautiful places in the world sourcing new jewellery designers.

And there is no-one more proud of her success than her mum, from whom she says she has inherited her creative flair.

Kath's latest exhibition, showcasing eight British contemporary jewellery designers, is entitled Flight of Fancy and runs until September 30.

But looking back over-her career, Kath is modest about her achievements and is-still coming to terms with the fact that her business, which started off as a table top shop, has evolved into a growing enterprise.

"It has gone from being something on the side-line to something really quite signifIcant to me," said Kath.

YORKSHIRE POST

8 AUGUST 2001

'I love what I do and I'd advise anyone who is thinking of changing career to go for it. You only live once.'

KATH LlBBERT, 42, was a psychologist working for the health service. Now she owns and runs a jewellery studio at Salts Mill, Saltaire.

Kath did a psychology degree and worked as a counselling psychologist - first in Bradford then in Leeds. She says: "I enjoyed my job very much, but towards the end I found my heart wasn't in it and I was worn out by it. "Helping people is very fulfiling, but you are seeing a very disturbed and distressed side of life.

"I have always had another side which has been interested in art, creativity and beautiful objects and I felt I wanted to do something in that area."

Kath had always been interested in jewellery and collected it herself.

She says: "I used to go to Harrogate Craft Fair with a friend. There were some great jewellery designers there and I often bought pieces from them. One year I1 thought I'd see if I could make a go of selling some."

She opened a stall in Leeds in 1994, showcasing the work of innovative designers.

"It was an exciting project for me. I had split up with my partner and I was wondering what to do with my weekends.

"I invested £1,000 and just wanted to sell enough to cover my costs.

"It wasn't a money-making venture, just a project."

She approached Salts Mill and when they opened a new floor five years ago, they offered her a space. She says: "I like a challenge and the wonderful thing about owning your business is that you are your own boss. In the health service you are often blocked and are forced to do things a particular way."

Kath didn't want a huge bank loan and managed to persuade jewellery designers to give her their work to showcase.

She took free business courses and employed someone to help run the business and reduced her hours in the health service to part-time.

Kath Libbert Jewellery now has an enviable reputation for stocking work by some of the county's best and most innovative independent designer makers.

She says: "It was a schizophrenic existence and in the end Ihad to make a choice.

"It was a frightening prospect to give up a secure job in the health service and a pension and I didn't know whether I would enjoy Salts full-time, but I love it."

Kath adds: "I've been liberated by this career change. I've stopped having the desire to be in the morass of people's distress and although I'm still interested in what makes people tick, this work does fulfil that in a way.

"I'm building relationships with designers and customers and by selling jewellery, I'm dealing with people's emotions."

Since leaving the health service recently and devoting herself full-time to her business, Kath has won a Crafts Council grant to forge links with a jewellery gallery in Spain and is in the midst of a Flights of Fancy exhibition she organised at Salts Mill.

She adds: "I love what I do and I'd advise anyone who is thinking of changing career to go for it. You only live once."

Kath Libbert Jewellery is at Salts Mill, Saltaire, and is open 10am - 6pm every day. Tel: 01274 599790.

YORKSHIRE EVENING POST

7 AUGUST 2001

Jewels in the mill

CAREER changes do not come much more dramatic than the one executed by Leeds woman Kath Libbert.

Kath, 42, of Chapel Allerton, has swopped working as a mental health therapist in the inner city to showcasing glamorous designer jewellery by some of the most innovative designers in Europe.

Now she is surrounded by gorgeous rings, bracelets, brooches and necklaces and has developed a reputation for showing and selling exciting work by both established and newly-discovered contemporary jewellers at Salt's Mill in Saltaire, Bradford - but until a few months ago was based at a mental health centre in Belle Isle.

She finally quit a few months ago to concentrate completely on her new role but for several years had been living a double life, combining her therapeutic work with her entirely different existence seeking out affordable, handcrafted pieces of modern jewellery. She said: "I have always loved jewellery, even when I was doing my psychology degree I also attended an evening class in jewellery-making which gave me a great respect for the skill involved, so in the end I took a deep breath and just did it."

Kath, a chartered counselling psychologist, began turning her passion into a fledgling business several years ago after a long relationship ended. She said: "I went walking in Southern Spain and was thinking about what to do with my life. I knew a bit about jewellery because for several years I had been visiting a trade fair in Harrogate with a friend, so I decided I would get together a thousand pounds, buy some pieces and then sell them." She chose unusual, handmade pieces and sold them wherever she could - on a stall at the Corn Exchange in Leeds, at jewellery parties and to friends and acquaintances.

Kath was so successful that the thousand pounds was the only time she had to plough her own cash into the business. After that, her reputation grew so quickly jewellers would loan her pieces to sell on, rather than asking her to buy them. Five years ago she began selling pieces at Salt's Mill, the Victorian textile mill transformed by Jonathan Silver into an attraction which draws 10,000 visitors a week, but continued to work part time as a therapist before finally making a complete break last November. Kath is now showing the work of eight designers at her shop and gallery in an exhibition called Flights of Fancy. The jewellery featured includes silver and 22ct gold rings set with aquamarines by Mark Nuell, men's jewellery by Karen Jobnson and 18ct gold and silver insect pendants and rings by Chris Hawkins Designs are also produced in unexpected materials such as rubber, steel, resin and even paper as well as the more usual metals and stones. Prices range from £15 for a pair of sliver earrings to £400 for a gold and silver necklace. Kath said: "Prices are not as high as people expect for something that is individually designed and crafted."

Customers can also commission individual pieces from wedding rings to tiaras and cufflinks.

KaIh Libbert can be contacted on 01274 599790.

YORKSHIRE POST

6 JULY 1999

Kath rings the changes from health to jewels

As a psychologist, Kath Libbert's day was spent working through problems with her clients. Now in charge of her own jewellery shop she finds satisfaction in matching the customer to the right designer. As KAREN JOYNER discovers, the two worlds are closer then they seem.

With her corkscrew curly hair and wild enthusiasm, meeting Kath Libbert for the fIrst time makes you think she is either a mad professor or an artist. In fact she is a bit of both. A psychologist employed by the Community Mental Health Services Trust in Leeds, and the owner of the eclectic jewellery section on the third floor of Salts Mill in Saltaire. For now the balance is tipped towards the jewellery, as she has just begun a sabbatical from her post to concentrate on the precious metals and shiny gems. Her office is a peaceful corner in the upper reaches of Titus Salt's mill, the looms and Spinning Jennys replaced by glass cases filled with wacky and wonderful rings and necklaces. Through the window there is a beautiful view of the mill and surrounding countryside and there is a pitter-patter stream of visitors who meander among the cases in this relaxed and welcoming atmosphere.

Patients

It seems a world away from the stresses and strains of mental health services, facing abuse, pain and suffering on a daily basis. Based with a team in Belle Isle, Middleton and Hunslet, Kath dealt with GP referrals, patients in and out of hospital and some desperately sad tales which touch her even now.

"There were an awful lot of women who had been abused, and with others you could scratch the surface and find reasons for the problems," she says. "I've come from an analytical background and want to find out what has happened to make life so hard for that person. You cannot solve it, but try and make it easier or more understandable. Make that life more fulfilling."

But woven among the caseload and sessions, Kath retained a love of jewellery and design ever since she took a silversmithing course in the ''70s while studying for her psychology degree.

A few years ago she started up a weekend stall in the Corn Exchange, Leeds, getting a few jewellers to let her sell their work and building up a mailing list of more tban 3,000 customers.

"I sold the jewellery at work places too, like a jewellery Tupperware party, and found it was an antidote to the mental health work I was doing," she says.

So much so that when a spot came up at Salts Mill, Kath leapt at the chance to set up her business there. Working on a sale or return basis she has built up her list of jewellers and designers to around 65, with new ones always being added on.

Interaction

But the business practices employed by this enterprise are weighted on the side of personal interaction rather than cutting edge tactics. Each of the four staff Kath employs to look after the shop have a background in the arts, enabling them to discuss with the customer exactly what they are after. "What I suggest to customers is a bit startling at first, but I want them to look at what we have in the cabinet and take that as a starting point," says Kath.

"We will help customers to develop their own ideas, and if possible encourage them to visit the studio of the jeweller who is doing the work. I want to find out what the person wants exactly and match them to the right jeweller, and get them to be creative."

Since all the items for sale are individually hand made anyway, the price will not leap up because another slightly diffferent piece is commissioned.

And the shop itself is designed to welcome people in to enjoy the pieces on show. "There is something about the whole ethos of Salts Mill that appeals to me," explains Kath. "The reason I've never made any entry or exit to the shop is that I don't want people to feel inhibited or excluded. I want people to feel free to just wander through and say 'that's nice' and carry on if they want to.

"I want the people who wouldn't normally enter a jewellery or craft shop to not feel their background stops them from enjoying it. With lots of places you have to make a conscious decision to go in before you do, here you just find yourself in the middle of it.

"I suppose it is linked with my work in the NHS in that I feel that everybody should have access to the good things in life, be it good treatment or whatever."

This ethos works in relation to the work Kath includes on her shelves. She chooses the jewellery because it strikes a chord in her. It's not aimed at the wealthy, nor is the style or craftsmanship lacking.

Expensive

"I spend a lot of time with the jeweller discussing how they are going to develop the range, and the sorts of things that the customers coming in here would like.

"If someone really wanted a piece that was expensive, then of course we would produce it for them, but if I saw a piece that was £5 and was beautifully crafted and designed, then I would take it on." she says.

In May Kath's skills were put to the test when Salts Mill director Robin Silver commissioned a brooch frame for David Hockney's Millennium stamp of the mill. With just 48 hours to spare Kath and silversmith Fiona Mackay worked to create the gift which was presented to Hockney in person.

The work attracted a great deal of interest with murmurs of a similar design being reproduced, but the creative process has whetted Kath's appetite to be involved in more pieces.

"I loved doing the piece for Hockney and I'd ideally like my own collection of pieces, as I enjoy the designing side, " she admits. "I'd also like to get in more jewellery from Europe, as there's some really fantastic work around."

The very heart of the business means it will always be a personal concern, with individual attention paid to customers and jewellers to give more diverse and original pieces.

"This is a way of finding expression for a different aspect of me, and as a Gemini one of my characteristics is that I have lots of ideas and am happy following different paths," says Kath. "Before I felt like a bird that had its wings clipped and was being kept in a cage. This has been a healthy move for me and I'm doing it really because it's my passion."

Kath Libbert's summer show Some Like It Hot is launched on July 15 from 5pm-9.3Opm introducing work by eight new jewellers. There will be 15 per cent off all items bought on the night, and it runs until mid September.

The Saltaire Review

29 Jul 2016

Kath Libbert

By Mike Farren

By the time you read this, celebrations will be underway for the 20th anniversary of Kath Libbert's jewellery gallery in Salts Mill.

The gallery is almost as much of a fixture as the Mill itself, and when I meet Kath I concede that I had taken it for granted until Jake Attree, a previous interviewee, pointed out that she was the only individual consistently bringing new artistic work to the village.

Kath acknowledges how easy it is for the kind of art jewellery that features in her exhibitions, such as the upcoming 20/20 show, to be overlooked. "It doesn't get into the art press easily. Fashion doesn't quite get it either," she admits.

My other assumption was that Kath had had a smooth path into running a gallery. In fact her training was in psychology, and she worked for a number of years with children or in community work in psychology in Bradford and Leeds. “My trajectory was always to do with people," she tells me, though she did take an evening course in jewellery while she was a student. I find it hard to believe her assertion that she “Was pretty hopeless at it!"

What started her dealing in contemporary jewellery was initially just personal interest. "I love to wear it and buy it for myself. 1 was also always thinking of business ideas and one of them was whether I could promote the work of contemporary jewellers." She started out in the early 90s from a table top in Leeds Corn Exchange, while still working full time for the Health Service. "I represented five people, and put in £1,000. 1 wasn't doing it with the intention of anything other than a hobby, but people bought work."

Saltaire also loomed large in her imagination at the time. “I used to come to Salts Mill more or less from the day it opened. It was a very special place. I was living in Leeds and there wasn't a great deal special in Leeds in the 80s. There was this amazing building in Saltaire, there was a person that had decided to do something interesting with it and artistic endeavours were happening. And then, just going into the Hockneys... It was unique and uplifting!"

Putting the two together, she realised that the people visiting the Mill might be interested in the work she was showing, “I’d got a showcase at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, 1 wrote to Jonathan Silver saying, 'I'd like to invite you and see whether you might be interested in work from some northern designers for the Home’ I wasn't pitching tobe here, I just thought it would be great to get some of this work here."

Success was not immediate, even after an initial meeting with Robin Silver from the Home. Kath jokes about how she contemplated standing outside the Mill like a wartime spiv; with jewellery in the lining of her raincoat. The breakthrough came when Clothes On Four opened in the. Mill. Remembering her,Robin Silver suggested that she should pitch for a presence "I was presented with the possibility that I could have a proper gallery here, It was incredibly exciting, incredibly overwhelming and I had about six weeks. He wasn't saying they were taking me - I had to pitch for it."

Those six weeks involved intensive market research and attempting to source work from jewellers, but also considerable soul-searching. "I had to decide if this was something I was going to go for. Was there going to be interest from the public? Was I going to get 20 jewellers to believe that Salts Mill was a special enough place and I was a competent person? What was I going to do with my other job?"

The elements did fall into place. Kath went part-time at her psychology job, hired a new graduate for the other four days in the week, and started the Gallery as we know it today. It took five more years to give up psychology and devote herself full-time to the Gallery. However she sees elements of continuity between the different aspects of her career, "With jewellery being very intimate and having lots of personal associations, it brings you into relationship with people, Obviously the intensity you get with someone when you’re working in therapy is different, but this isthe more pleasurable connection!”

However these was never any doubt about how at home Kath felt in Salts Mill. "It’s a very democratic place,” she tells me. “The brilliant part is you have people who would never go into a formal gallery. Here, you get all sorts, and you have that fantastic opportunity to go, ‘Take a look at this,’”

Part of the mission has been to act as a bridge between visitors to the galery and the kind of art jewellery it features. Exhibitions, of which there are a couple annually, involve interaction with the public — a quiz, a vote or more direct involvement. Kath shows mevideos of people enthusiastically modelling items from the flamboyant Natural Histrionics show in 2013. "We let people declaim their enthusiasm for a particular piece by building a small stage and allowing them to be histrionic. People are very up for these things.”

She is also keen to emphasise how the gallery straddles the world of high-concept art jewellery – often made from materials like paper, plastic or base metals – and the more conventional jewellery world of precious metals and stones. “People bring us heirloom pieces,” she tells me, “that belonged to a husband or a grandparent and that they want to give new life to. Sometimes it’s as simple as taking a stone out of an old piece and putting it into a new piece, sometimes it’s about completely reconfiguring something.”

Kath has always focused on promoting new talent, with annual shows for new jewellery graduates. She and her staff go to the Business Design Centre in Islington, where the degree shows have stands with graduates’ work at the end of June, prior to a new graduate show at the Gallery in November.

“It’s very important to me to showcase new graduates, and a lot of these people have gone on to do well,” she continues, mentioning Kelly Monro, whose work is based on fishing nets and creels of her Scottish home town, and Genevieve Howard, also a musician, who makes pieces using Japanese linen paper, representing the physical notation of her favourite music.

Kath’s championing of art jewellery and nurturing new talent has created a unique niche in the British jewellery world. London based Electrum and the Lesley Craze Gallery both had a similar ambit, but both closed within the past few years. The esteem in which Kath is held was reflected when she was asked to take on the Lesley Craze Gallery. “I didn’t have a desire to be in London doing this. It’s the very particularity of what Salts Mill is that works for me. It’s my little family. It’s the antidote to ‘corporate’ here and I’m not a corporate person.”

Having been part of that family for 20 years, the centrepiece of this year’s programme is an exhibition called 20/20. “The theme,” Kath explains, “is 20 international art jewellers to mark 20 years… and you need 20/20 vision to look closely and get the most out of it.”

Going through the highlights, she mentions Jing Yang, from China. “Her exhibition was like going into the British Museum. You see all these vases on podiums, but it’s called I Am Not A Vase. They break apart and they become necklaces. In China a beautiful woman is often called a vase – beautiful but hollow. She’s challenging that.”

The makers involved are typically diverse, coming from South America, East Asia and many parts of Europe, picking up an international theme at the Gallery – an aspect Kath has pursued since full time involvement in the business allowed her to attend major jewellery shows, such as Munich’s Schmuck, the source for most of the 20/20 exhibitors.

I’m shown some items that have already arrived, and am particularly taken with Carina Shoshtary’s graffiti-based work and Yojae Lee’s insect brooches, the latter both large and delicate at the same time.

To engage the audience further, there will be a cryptic quiz, with spyglasses and jeweller’s spectacles for those who haven’t go 20/20 vision, and with a prize draw. “It’s a way of saying thank you for looking closely,” says Kath. “It’s a playful, engaging way of celebrating the 20th anniversary, presenting 20 artists who are doing things that require 20/20 vision.”

The exhibition should prove to be a fitting way to sum up the life of the Gallery so far, and make a statement for the next 20. As Kath says, “20 years is a long time, but it doesn’t feel long. I feel pretty much like I did. My excitement and interest is pretty much as it was to begin. I always enjoy coming into work. It feels just as fresh and new.”

For more details visit www.kathlibbertjewellery.co.uk.

JLIFE

ARTS INTERVIEW

FEB 2013

Hidden Gem

KATH LIBBERT CHATS TO JLIFE'S KIRSTY PLOWMAN ABOUT HOW HER JEWISH ROOTS INFLUENCE HER CREATIVE WORK..

Jewish gallery owner, Kath Libbert, sells bespoke jewellery at Kath Libbert Jewellery Gallery at Salts Mill in Saltaire. Kath was brought up in London and her Czech mother is a Holocaust survivor. The gallery is renowned for holding an Alternative Wedding Show which this year is running from 10th February - 5th May launching with an exclusive Meet the Makers afternoon.

How does your family background inspire your work?

I seem to be driven to seeking out the distinctive and the unusual. I come from a strong line of family on my Czech Jewish mother’s side that were also drawn to doing so. My great aunt, who lived in Switzerland, commissioned one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture, Mies van der Rohe, to design a family home, the Tugendhat House in Brno.

My mother worked for Finmar, one of the first companies to bring Scandinavian furniture to the UK. Our north London house was full of Scandinavian furniture some of which is now in my own home.

Running a contemporary jewellery gallery in Salts Mill seems like it was part of my destiny. Another bit of serendipity is that my mother’s family owned woollen mills in Czechoslovakia including the factory that Schindler hid the Jews in. My grandfather came over to Bradford in the 1930s for a summer to learn about aspects of the woollen industry and I like to think he might even have visited Salts Mill.

Have you always been interested in the creative arts?

I grew up in a family that was passionate about art in all its forms, taking us to endless galleries and theatres in London and abroad. This was not always appreciated by me at the time but it was certainly a great basis for developing my own strong taste for the pleasures that fantastic art and craft can bring.

Why did you decide to open the gallery?

I had been with the NHS Psychology Department in Leeds for many years but at the same time I was always thinking up business ideas. In 1994, I decided to set up a table-top at the Leeds Corn Exchange at the weekends selling distinctive handcrafted contemporary jewellery. I enjoyed it a lot and I met some delightful customers who use the gallery 18 years on. It was a start and from this an opportunity came up at Salts Mill in 1996.

What is the main identity of the gallery?

The Times Luxx magazine described us as, ‘For clients who want jewels that push boundaries…the antidote to the high street’, and this seems very apt. Open daily, we specialise solely in contemporary jewellery, silver and metalsmithing, showcasing diverse collections by over 70 renowned designers and emerging talents from Britain and abroad.

What makes your gallery different to others?

We have a very strong house style with much of the work on show crossing the boundaries between fine art, sculpture, fashion and jewellery. Firstly, work has to be very well crafted but then it’s about surprising me, provoking me, presenting me with something intriguingly beautiful that I think our customers will love. Everything is handmade and we enjoy responding to people’s own ideas for special pieces.

What has been the most unusual exhibition?

Most of our special exhibitions feature very unusual work which we take great delight in introducing to our discerning Yorkshire public. We aim to find inventive and playful ways of engaging visitors with the work on display. A good example of this was Choice, an international exhibition, which documented the public modelling and commenting on their favourite pieces in the exhibition.

How do you get local artists involved with the gallery?

I am always on the look-out for new talent and local artists come to us as they know we are a key outlet for contemporary jewellery in the UK. One of our exhibitions majored on local Yorkshire talent in a link up with the Great Yorkshire Show. All the jewellery entries were inspired by the categories of the original show, so there were lots of pigs, cows and sheep!

What work have you done internationally?

Most of our exhibitions feature international talent and every year I go to Munich where there is an international jewellery competition called Schmuck. It is a great place to select radical new work from around the world. We are often the first gallery in the UK to showcase this work. I also initiated an exchange exhibition with a gallery in Barcelona, taking UK jewellers out there and bringing Catalan talent to Bradford, supported by the Arts Council and The Crafts Council.

What does the annual alternative wedding show have in store this year?

A personalised design service is a strong feature of this year’s Alternative Wedding Show. The gallery is addressing the current trend for working heirloom jewels into contemporary designs by specially featuring jewellers who create bespoke pieces for the gallery’s clients.

Now celebrating its twelfth year, the show is renowned for featuring jewellery by cutting-edge designers including jeweller to the stars, Malcolm Morris, who has made original pieces for the Duchess of Gloucester, Joan Collins and Dawn French

General Gallery Reviews

A Marriage Made in Yorkshire

Natural Histrionics