CAMBRIDGE.- Described as a ‘restless non-conformist’, Poston’s career has spanned jewellery, international development, photography and working as an inventor.

Exuberant and thought-provoking, Poston’s designs are at the same time minimal and sensual. He always wanted to make jewellery which related to the wearer’s self and which they would wear as much of the day and night as possible. He says “Jewellery is a way of reconciling people to their bodies, making them feel switched on. It is about how they feel inside and how they can realise that feeling.” By the time he was in his thirties, his work had been bought enthusiastically by people in the UK and elsewhere and by major international museum collections.

Besides being a jeweller of international fame, Poston has pursued several other careers, some of them simultaneously. For the first time, this exhibition brings together the different aspects of his creative career to show the significant wider impact he has made.

In 1970 he photographed The Rolling Stones in concert at The Roundhouse, and was commissioned to document performances by many contemporary bands such as Fairport Convention and by experimental artists such as Stuart Brisley and Marc Chaimowicz. In 1986 his PhD research into the development of rural manufacturing industries in Central Africa led to a new career in international development. Documented within the exhibition is an example of a mobile tool-making training workshop in Tanzania.

As an inventor Poston has at least six patent applications to his name. He has worked as an independent consultant in a number of highly specialised fields, including industrial and economic development, clinical informatics and medicine delivery design, and haptic interface technology. Today he combines making jewellery and being a consultant to new technology start-ups with gaining his pilot’s licence.

He says, “As a designer rather than an artist, the solution I develop to any problem feeds my ability to solve other problems I may encounter. The problems are different, training system or bracelet, but the intellectual tools are the same.”

Philip Hughes, Director of Ruthin Craft Centre, says, “Poston is both grand master and enfant terrible. He works in the realm of ideas – driven by process and technique, he is a profound thinker, writer and eloquent speaker. He achieved ‘the impossible’ with titanium, shocked the establishment with his necklace for an elephant, and is now at the forefront of the laser welding technology applied to recycled tin and gold alike.”

The exhibition is being displayed at the Fitzwilliam Museum from June 30th through the 6th of September.