The Comyns Jazz Collection at Royal Selangor

I have never seen pewter / silverware in person so I was pretty excited to get invited by Royal Selangor, the world's leading pewter giant to their flagship store recently. It was for the showcase of their sterling silver brand Comyns, a previously British brand with a heritage spanning nearly 400 years!

Comyns began by specialising in decorative tableware dressing and later became renowned for its interpretative works, particularly of Paul de Lamerie. Later in 1993 Royal Selangor acquired the premier British silversmith label. To ensure the continuity of artisans skills and know-how, a five-year apprentice scheme with two resident silver consultants from Comyns were developed. The fact that Royal Selangor acquired a historical British label that practices traditional English method of silversmithing is an astonishing fact, I might say. Various Comyns items are indeed objects of historical importance that many of them are displayed in Victoria and Albert Museum of London...

The ambience of the event was an eclectic one - elegant middle-aged patronage mixed with socialites, young professionals and social media types. There was a live jazz band, with repertoire including Lana del Rey's Young and Beautiful. 

The Comyns Jazz Collection are inspired by the Art Deco movement in 1920's, capturing the mood of the period's social elegance and enjoyment of life before the Great Depression. To me the earrings, cuffs, pendants and rings design are much more contemporary and minimalistic, and do not necessarily give tribute to Art Deco. Nonetheless they are elegant and is a potential way to accessorise effortlessly.  

 The highlight of the event was to explore the double storey Royal Selangor flagship and to 'rummage' their entire collection, including their main pewter Comyns silver collections and sister brands like Selberan. Amazingly the flagship showcases most - if not complete - range that RS offers. The pewter craftwork encompass everyday objects like dining and tea sets, leisure and children's items, and even external hard disk and pen drives!

Beautiful pewter decorations are vastly abound, ranging from oriental and arabic to contemporary designs, and with full-fledged tropical fruits line-up with durians included - a testimony of how the design team at Royal Selangor traverse between the lines of fine art and humour. Comyns stuff are truly breath-taking with their shinier reflection and more intricate detailing, making the items all the more luxe and photography friendly. What a particularly exciting experience to watch shoppers in action, as soon as hearing the announcement of most of the items in store was half priced. I was this close to purchasing a Japanese-inspired tea set...

Beautiful carving on external hard disks...

And on pen drives too

For the gents who can't help but to voice irritation towards the lack of masculine accessories and homely stuff by Comyns, fret not. East Dane comes to the rescue with their delectable selection of all things neutral and shiny, like the ones below:

Tom Dixon candle that captures the essences of tea time with a pot of Earl Grey, scones, strawberry jam and a ride home in tatty leather seats. The candle is in an embossed nickel cup and includes a morwad marble lid.

A subtle leather Eddie Borgo bracelet with a matte-finish anchor clasp. The clasp hooks into a braided loop on the opposite end.

Words by Hafidzudin Zainal

Photography and editing by Filzah Athirah