Sam Orlando Miller

Most of the materials that Sam Orlando Miller works with have a patina of disintegration. For him this brings awareness of the material to the forefront, signaling that it is in a state of change. This can happen naturally or be created. “If the material has to be transformed in order to let it speak then that’s what I do. Sometimes new, unaltered materials can be an interesting counterpoint, simply because they have not yet had a life.”

The prosaic title should not for a moment suggest that these “mirrors” are to be used in the ordinary sense. Rather, they function as sources of light, and underline what is for Sam the skill of working with silver: the understanding of reflection. “When you make an object in silver you need to know how it captures the world around it.”

Sam’s first learnt metal skills in the family silversmiths workshop in London. He graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Falmouth School of Art in 1987. In 1989 he set up a commercial workshop, and worked on commissions in the UK and internationally for interior design projects, furniture and installations. Throughout these years of successful commercial work he continued privately to make drawings, paintings and sculptures, and in 2000 decided that every piece of work he produced would be made with his own hands. He now lives between London and his studio in Le Marche, Italy. Sam is represented by Gallery Fumi, London.