Timothy Parsons is a product designer and a design lecturer who has had products manufactured through companies like Innermost, Wentworth and Thorsten Van Elten. Parsons’ work ranges from the double walled half-pint glass and the trident pasta fork to his more recent endeavours with pewter. The short video (a must-see on his website) of the drip-casting method employed by Parsons provides a wonderful insight into working with this seductive material.



Your pewter drip-casting and dip-casting techniques have produced some gorgeous designs. Do you have any other pewter projects in mind?
The pewter work was done with a British company, Wentworths with whom I have established an enjoyable working relationship. It feels more like the kind of relationship talked of by the Italians of the 50s whereby the designer is allowed access to the factory to experiment rather than to propose ideas from his studio. I hope to continue working with them for many years. The latest pieces we have done are facsimiles of paper cups and plates using pewter sheet. It is a 'back to basics' project about the simple ways that strength is given to sheet material for functional use.

What is it about pewter that attracts you? How does this material fit into modern contemporary design?
Pewter has a place where high durability is not a requirement (it is soft so dents easily) but where high finish is desired at a reasonable price (it is far cheaper than silver for example). Yet objects made of pewter can have a high perceived value which makes it possible to manufacture affordable design objects in the UK and sell them here - something almost unheard of nowadays.

The world is already full of 'stuff' as a designer, why do you choose to create more?
Even critics like Victor Papanek accepted that we cannot go back to mud huts. Our system relies upon the production of excess. All we can do is make that excess less harmful and to embody honest values.