Robert Radford Welch MBE, RDI (21 May 1929 – 15 March 2000), was an English designer and silversmith. Early life and education Born in Hereford, he was the only son of Leonard Radford Welch (1894–1969) and his wife, Dorothy Perkins (1897–1982), who trained as an artist before their marriage in 1923. Childhood When Robert was young, the family moved to the village of Colwall, which sits on the side of the Malvern Hills and, in 1939, to West Malvern, Worcestershire where he grew up. He had a lifelong love of the Malvern Hills and often walked there. He was educated at the boys' school in Colwall, then at Lyttelton Grammar School in Malvern where he sang in Malvern Priory choir and finally Hanley Castle Grammar School where he excelled at sport. He briefly played cricket for the Second XI of Worcestershire County Cricket Club, before deciding to study at Malvern School of Art. Malvern School of Art and Birmingham College of Art His time at Malvern was broken up by two years of National Service, during which time he served as a wireless operator in the Royal Air Force. While in the RAF he attended classes at Cambridge School of Art before returning to complete his studies at Malvern, 1949–50. He had undertaken rudimentary metalwork classes at Malvern, or 'metal-bashing' as it was known, however he officially began his training as a silversmith at the Birmingham College of Art, School of Silversmithing and Jewellery which was also where he completed his National Diploma in Design. Welch made his first work in a precious metal, a powder bowl, in 1950 but examples of his work in metals survive from as early as 1946. Royal College of Art and Scandinavia He went on to study at the Royal College of Art in 1952, the year after the Festival of Britain, joining David Mellor and Gerald Benney who were both a year above him. Welch was the only silversmith in his year. All three were to become renowned in their field, creating "remarkable one-off commissions in silver, as well as tackling production designs in newly fashionable and affordable stainless steel. During the 1950s they had all been influenced to a large degree by the Scandinavian Modern style, especially the anthropomorphic vessels and jewellery of the Danish sculptor-designer Henning Koppel for Georg Jensen." Lesley Jackson As a student, Welch made four extended visits to