Items created from ashes of Glasgow School of Art fire to be sold in New York
Silverware and jewellery created from objects which survived the Glasgow School of Art fire are to be auctioned at an event in New York.
Silverware and jewellery created from objects which survived the Glasgow School of Art fire are to be auctioned at an event in New York.
The gala dinner on June 2 will conclude a three-day US launch of the Mackintosh Campus Appeal, which aims to raise money for the restoration and upgrading of the site after the devastating blaze in May 2014.
Included in the auction will be a set of silver spoons featuring original hand-forged nails recovered from the Mackintosh Library, and brooches made using fragments of painted wood retrieved from the Mackintosh Building.
The spoons were crafted by the joint head of silversmithing and jewellery at the art school, Helen Marriott, while the brooches were created by her colleague Anna Gordon.
The spoons will go under the hammer at the public auction evening, while the brooches will be sold in an associated "silent auction" which will also feature a tie pin created from an original Mackintosh Building nail by lecturer Michael Pell.
Both auctions will be open to bids from across the globe.
The US fundraising event follows the original launch of the Mackintosh Campus Appeal last month, with art school bosses revealing they need £32 million to expand the Garnethill campus - including the restoration of the Mackintosh Building and the purchase the former Stow College site nearby.
Hollywood actor Brad Pitt, singer Bryan Ferry and Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi are trustees of the appeal, which has already raised £17 million.
Professor Tom Inns, director of the Glasgow School of Art, said: "These events are a tremendous opportunity for the GSA to raise awareness of our exciting plans for the restored Mackintosh Building and Garnethill campus, as well as the need for philanthropic support from around the world to make them a reality.
"We are delighted to offer for auction this unique set of silver spoons and exquisite jewellery. Creativity and innovation are at the heart of everything we do at the GSA. These wonderful pieces demonstrate how with creativity, beauty can come from adversity."
On June 1, Pamela Robertson, Emereta Professor of Mackintosh studies at the University of Glasgow, will give a lecture as part of the appeal at an event hosted by Paul Goldberger, current contributing editor of Vanity Fair and a former Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic.
Mr Goldberger said: "Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art is one of the great buildings of the world, and when it was seriously damaged by fire, lovers of architecture everywhere felt a sense of loss.
"I am delighted that we in the United States are able to join in the effort to restore this incomparable work of architecture."