Innovative Ink

Trained as a medical doctor, Henry Stephens (1796-1864) relocated his rural medical practice to London in 1829 and started experimenting with inks and transparent stains for timber. Stephens’ tinkering bore fruit when he invented an indelible ink that wrote in blue and dried black. His work was groundbreaking; until then, inks were neither permanent nor […]

Read More…

Ground-breaking Australian Design

Designed by renowned colonial silversmith Henry Steiner (1835-1914), The Silver Tree epergne stands at more than half a metre high, features twenty figures on its base and has an illustrious history. It got tongues wagging at the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880–81 and cemented Steiner’s place in Australian design history. Possibly lured by the gold […]

Read More…