01 February 2023
2022 saw the launch of the inaugural Clock and Watch Engraving Competition, a new partnership between the Hand Engravers' Association and the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers. Entrants were asked to submit an engraved dial that could be used in a timepiece or a hand engraved complete clock or watch.
Open to any professional, trainee or amateur engravers based in Great Britain, over the age of 18, the engraving could be based on a traditional design, or an original, contemporary theme.
Nineteen entries were received, and a judging panel of Sally Dodson, Director of the Hand Engravers Association, Andrew Crisford, Dr James Nye and the Clerk hotly debated entries before arriving at the winner and runner up, pictured right.
US born Ibrahim is a freelance designer-maker with a background in woodcarving, bookbinding and traditional crafts, teaching at the Institute of Traditional Islamic Arts, University of Balqa before moving to the UK a few years ago . It was at this point he added engraving to his skills as a professional craftsman, learning from silversmith and engraver, Angus McFadyen.
Ibrahim was selected for a place on the Hand Engravers Association seal engraving workshop in April 2022 and attended the International Hand Engraving Symposium at Malcolm Appleby's workshop in September, which no doubt honed his skills in deep relief engraving that we see on his winning competition piece. The judges were impressed by the striking design which absolutely exemplified what stunning results hand engraving can achieve versus other techniques of displaying numerals and embellishing dials. Ibrahim had combined technical excellence with a well-thought out clarity of design to create a functional and beautiful dial.
