Gorham SIlver: Designing Brilliance 1850 - 1970

Designing Innovation: The Gorham Manufacturing Company casts new light on the golden era of this company, first established in 1831 in Providence, Rhode Island. Silver and mixed-metal wares produced from 1860 to 1960 are considered from social, cultural, industrial, aesthetic, and technological contexts. Commissioned to create everything from public presentation pieces to one-of-a-kind showstoppers for use in the private dining rooms of America, Gorham put uniquely American design and the aspirations of a youthful nation on the world stage. Designing Innovation is the first multi-venue Gorham exhibition, and the accompanying book is the first major publication on Gorham in more than three decades.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.