Crosier for the Bishop of Sheffield
Sterling Silver with acrylic, nylon, stainless steel and yew, 2014
Nick Palmer and Stefan Tooke were honoured to be commissioned to design and make a new crosier for the Bishop of Sheffield Steven Croft. This piece jointly celebrates the centenary of Harry Brearley's discovery of stainless steel in 1913 and the centenary of the Sheffield Cathedral which was elevated from parish church status when the new diocese was created in 1914. Sponsored by Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Assay office and the laser cutting company, the crosier was completed in June 2014. The top crook part is made from stainless steel in honour of Harry Brearley's work. Beneath this top element gold plated silver flames are erupting from a silver crucible form, which was spun onto nylon that Palmer and Tooke turned on a lathe. The blue acrylic which divides the different spinnings throughout the piece symbolises Sheffield's historical industrial use of river power. Below these top spinnings there is a stainless steel tube which the laser cutting company cut in moments and finished by hand over several days. One of the design constraints was that the crosier must split into three parts for ease of transport as the Bishop takes his crosier when visiting other parish churches within the diocese of Sheffield, so Palmer and Tooke made a case. A photograph of the crosier split into 3 parts will follow soon...
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