Robert Smit’s work has always been driven by drawing. In 1971, he sold his goldsmiths’ equipment and ceased making jewellery for a decade or more, concentrating instead on drawing and painting. This period of self-inflicted exile has informed much of his work that has followed, creating series ‘about the moment that representations of a piece of jewellery become painterly problems.’ It is the constant searching for balance in these two forms that propels him – sometimes they merge and sometimes they go their own way but together they are the essence of his art.

Robert was born in Delft in 1941, where he studied at a technical school for instrument making. He moved to Germany to attend the Vereinigte Goldschmiede-, Kunst- und Werkschule in Pforzheim, studying under Klaus Ullrich. His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in collections such as CODA Apeldoorn, Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Die Neue Sammlung in Munich, the Deutsches Goldschnmiedehaus in Hanau and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California. Robert has been honoured with a number of awards, including The Golden Ring of Honour of the Association for Goldsmiths’ Art in 2014.