Adorn your table with the works of silversmith Kevin O’Dwyer, and dinner conversation may turn to the likes of Daniel Libeskind. "Maybe I’m a ‘wannabe’ architect," O’Dwyer posits when discussing his latest coffee and tea services. "I can actually see them scaled up as large sculpture and buildings."
The 57-year-old Irishman’s angular creations, which were standouts at the Material Poetry show held last October at the American Irish Historical Society in New York, are available through Colorado’s J. Cotter Gallery (970.476.3131, www.jcottergallery.com). Prices range from about $1,300 (salt and pepper shakers) to $40,000 (full coffee services), depending on the finish, degree of complexity, scale, hinging, and materials. "All the pieces are made as unique or limited editions, a maximum of which is 10," says O’Dwyer, who works out of his studio in County Offaly, Ireland.
For his pots’ handles, O’Dwyer often uses 4,000-year-old bog yew or stone that he says recalls Neolithic Irish structures. Architecture, however, is not his sole inspiration: O’Dwyer also claims prehistoric Irish art, early monastic metalwork, and modern masters of the metal arts as creative influences.
