Not Your Grandmother's Silver

Kaminer Haislip grew up running around her father's hardware store. She was surrounded by an array of tools and people who used them well. Later, in college, she fell in love with art—particularly silversmithing—and continues to master this traditional craft with a contemporary twist.  

Silversmithing in Charleston goes back a ways. Until the outbreak of the Civil War, Charleston was one of the wealthiest cities in America, with an economy based on the the production and export of crops such as rice, indigo, and cotton. The city’s merchants and planters amassed immense fortunes, building grand houses and furnishing them with lavish furniture, tapestries, and silver. Consequently, the prosperous seaport became a refuge for artisans, including silversmiths, who produced extraordinary works. By 1820, there were nearly 75 separate silver shops in operation and countless artisans working in the city. Since the Civil War, those numbers have declined dramatically.  

Will she revive the craft in the Holy City? She's well on her way: for example, as an ode to 19th-century Charleston, Haislip has created a Rice Spoon Series, merging the traditional form of a serving spoon (even its 14-inch handle) with modern designs such as the Eiffel Tower. Counter to the traditional purpose of the spoon (used at the dinner table), Haislip creates it as a high-dollar souvenir for travelers hoping to take home a piece of Charleston's heritage. After all, rice almost single-handedly created the Lowcountry’s agriculture empire during the 18th and 19th centuries, with tailors embroidering rice’s likeness on clothing, cabinetmakers incorporating it in bedposts, and silversmiths catering their wares to its presentation at the dinner table. Hence, the serving spoon is called a rice spoon.  

Haislip is also well-known for her clever teapot designs, believing that beyond the form, there is more to creating and experiencing the teapot: “I am inspired by the concept of enhancing domestic rituals through traditional silversmithing techniques underpinned by contemporary design,” says Haislip.  

In her work, there are elements of surprise and beauty. She is experimental with materials, sometimes combining silver with exotic indigenous woods. Hammering, soldering, sanding and polishing, Haislip creates designs that are exquisite and soundly manufactured, carrying on a long tradition of silversmithing in the Lowcountry with her own identity and invention of style.