Ken Hunt

Biography

At the age of 15, Ken Hunt began what would be an incredible journey of discovery and innovation. He took the first step as an apprentice to James Purdey & Sons in London with outworker Harry Kell.

This environment allowed him to learn the trade, producing work on time and in a commercial way. As an apprentice, Hunt learned and produced mainly fine English scroll, flowers and large scroll.

The apprenticeship included a “day release” class at the Central School of the Arts and Crafts where Hunt interacted with engravers from other fields such as book plate, bank note, cheque, and many others.

Hunt strongly sought to develop new techniques to improve his work. He knew the basis of fine English scroll, gold inlay and carving by Kell, but low demand for inlay and carving left his method and finish relatively crude. Hunt achieved his ambitions through his experimentation, raising engraving standards to those we see today.

During Hunt’s apprenticeship, poor world communication led to a period of stunted growth in the industry. In 1953, he managed to find the American magazine The Gun Digest that fueled his next step.

The magazine exhibited works from Austria, Germany and Belgium by such influential engravers as Max Bruhle, Kornbrath and Fugger. Seeing this spurred Hunt on to experiment. He went to museums, such as The Wallace Collection and Victoria and Albert, where he drew inspiration from all types of work from Oriental through to French and Italian pieces.

As the times changed, a growing number of clients desired engraving on their guns. Hunt, with a developing interest in carving and little knowledge of what to charge, focused on pleasing the customer.

He set about developing a new technique to finish jobs quickly and not delay the delivery of the gun. His method involved using nitric acid to remove the background of the scrolls – the old method of cutting away by hand just took too long for Hunt's liking.

This was the voyage of discovery. Inevitably some mistakes occurred but on the whole he got some excellent results but it took a long time to develop new ways and techniques of engraving.

In Hunt’s own words, “I think the joy of discovery I have had is in the satisfaction that I taught myself the art of carving, inlaying and damascening (overlaying) gold and working the colored gold inlays.”

Having developed and refined these processes, he feels that teaching them will alleviate many of the frustrations for students. Hunt also encourages a student’s own voyage of discovery by acting as a catalyst to experimentation.