Lawrence Gibson

It was not easy to catch up with Lawrence Gibson, as he had been preparing for an important exhibition of Cornish craft businesses in the house of St. Barnabas in Soho in early 2010, in company with traders representing fashion and lifestyle, clothing, skincare and 2 other jewellery and accessories specialists with an eco them as well as himself.

He has been building up his jewellery business over time, and is currently working on models to provide a steady financial base. He enjoys the variety, and hopes it will continue.

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It was not easy to catch up with Lawrence Gibson, as he had been preparing for an important exhibition of Cornish craft businesses in the house of St. Barnabas in Soho in early 2010, in company with traders representing fashion and lifestyle, clothing, skincare and 2 other jewellery and accessories specialists with an eco them as well as himself.

He has been building up his jewellery business over time, and is currently working on models to provide a steady financial base. He enjoys the variety, and hopes it will continue.

Unlike some pattern makers, Lawrence didn’t begin in the jewellery line. After completing his university course in industrial product design, and having made models of the concepts required as part of the course, he returned to Cornwall.

There was no work available in that specific field, but the Job centre was offering a post as model maker for Gems & Cobwebs. Their previous pattern maker had left, and they wanted to keep that specialism in-house. The process of then casting and spraying was all new to Lawrence, and here he was able to view the whole sequence.

Lawrence was 22 years old when he started with Gems & Cobwebs in 1995, and worked with Bernie and Graham Du Cros for 4 years until the business became Milestone Miniatures in 1999. Lawrence was keen to work independently, but continued to work for them on a freelance basis. He was responsible for the Brooklands range, and acknowledges that if the subject matter was particularly interesting, then he put extra effort into the accuracy. He was also responsible for the Jaguar XK8 and several of their American range, amongst others.

Sometimes Graham would give Lawrence a model which he wanted modifying into something new. Graham knew of Max Kernick, and it was through this link that Lawrence was recommended to Max, who was developing his Top Marques range. Lawrence’s first pattern for Top Marques was the Delage, and Max was pleased with the result, so Lawrence was promoted to Rolls Royces and also some modifications. Lawrence recalls with pleasure his time with Max, and between 2000 and 2008 he would regularly drive to Honiton where Max had his workshop. There he also began work on the new Alvis range. He did all the Alvis patterns, including the woodie, continuing to make them for Mike Rogers of J&M Classics. During this time Roger Tennyson contacted Lawrence to ask him to do a pattern for Crossway Models, and as a result he continued working for Carl Merz when Roger retired.

The jewellery connection began to develop whilst Lawrence was still working in Exeter with Max. It was considerably boosted when Max decided to move to France and sold his casting and moulding equipment to Lawrence. He obtained a loan from the Prince’s Trust, and a grant from the local business start-up scheme, and since then he has been able to use these for both jewellery and model making.

Other lines of interest for Lawrence include making patterns for resin slot car bodies for Classic Slot, owned by John Haywood. Currently, the jewellery side has grown as he has regarded it as having greater business potential. It has included a wide range of necklaces, pendants and ear-rings, and he has been focussing on getting these into high street stores.

Subject ID: 82182

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