Memory Fragment: A table ring for Maggy

These pictures show the ring after many years of use.

When Tim and Maggy had been married for nearly ten years, Tim asked if I would make her a special ring to mark the anniversary. I had already made her wedding ring (which is square), but this was to be something even more unconventional.

It was to be a secret, but clearly I would need to know Maggy’s ring size, so I asked Tim if he could surreptitiously borrow one of her rings and send it to me so that I could check the size and return it before its absence had been noticed. “OK, I’ll send something down” said Tim. Several days later, I received a little package, but instead of a ring, there was a scrap of paper on which he had written my brief: “If in doubt, go over the top”. This was wrapped around a worn-down bar of soap into which a ring had been squashed, leaving just the imprint. Unfortunately, the ring had not been remotely round. So it was to be a bit of a guessing game. No pressure, then.

With such a special commission came the weight of responsibility, and I spent hours, days, weeks trying to create just the right design. The more I tried, the worse my ideas became. Time was moving on. Then one day when I was in Glasgow, I went to meet a friend at Café Gandolfi. Over a glass or two of wine, and surrounded by chairs, tables, stools and counters all made by Tim, I poured out my woes. My friend looked at me as though I was an idiot. “Look around you,” he said. “The man makes tables. Make a table”.

So that is what I did. The top is made from swirling layers of gold, silver and copper – a Japanese technique called mokume gane which means ‘woodgrain metal’. The tiny table has golden end pieces and a gold stretcher between the legs, like the table Tim made for us. The ring is surprisingly comfortable as most fingers are more square than round in cross-section.