David Adrian Smith (born 1968) is a British

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

, glass embosser, gilder and

signwriting Sutton SignWriting, or simply SignWriting, is a system of writing sign languages. It is highly featural and visually iconic, both in the shapes of the characters, which are abstract pictures of the hands, face, and body, and in their spatial arr ...

artist based in Torquay, Devon (United Kingdom) He started his own sign writing company in 1990 and after 13 years sold the business in 2003 to concentrate more on hand crafted lettering and glass gilding. His main techniques include water and oil gilding, verre églomisé, acid etching, brilliant cutting, French embossing, glue chipping, sand blasting, screen printing and sign writing. In recent years David Smith has also focused on traditional, ornamental hand drawn design. He teaches the craft of sign writing and reverse glass gilding all over the world. He was awarded an MBE for services to reverse glass ornamental artistry in the 2020 New Year Honours. David A

Early life

David Smith was born in 1968 in

Stroud, Gloucestershire Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

. He moved to Torquay in 1978. In 1984, with help from his father, he began a traditional 5 year

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners ...

at Harmony Signs in Paignton, learning glass embossing and sign writing.

Career

In 2012, Smith was hired by American singer songwriter

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

from

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

to design an album cover for John Mayer's studio album '' Born and Raised''. The cover was styled like a circa-1900

trade card A trade card is a square or rectangular card that is small, but bigger than the modern visiting card, and is exchanged in social circles, that a business distributes to clients and potential customers, as a kind of business card. Trade cards fi ...

. After completion, Mayer used the album-cover on the

Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

and the

David Letterman Show ''The David Letterman Show'' is an American morning talk show that was hosted by David Letterman on NBC. It originally aired from June 23 to October 24, 1980. Originally, the series lasted 90 minutes, then 60 minutes from August 4 onward. Back ...

. Besides the album cover, David Smith designed artwork for the single "

Queen of California "Queen of California" is the second single from American singer John Mayer's fifth studio album '' Born and Raised''. Music video The music video for "Queen of California" premiered on YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing an ...

". He has also worked on posters and other merchandise associated with the album and single. Also in 2012, David Smith was commissioned by

Jameson Whiskey Jameson ( or ) is a blended Irish whiskey produced by the Irish Distillers subsidiary of Pernod Ricard. Originally one of the six main Dublin Whiskeys at the Jameson Distillery Bow St., Jameson is now distilled at the New Midleton Distillery i ...

to design a St.Patrick's Jameson Whiskey bottle for the brand. The design, apart from being used on the limited edition bottle, was produced as a hand crafted mirror that can be seen at

Jameson Experience, Midleton The Jameson Experience, Midleton, (also known as the Old Midleton Distillery) is an Irish whiskey museum and visitor centre located in the Old Midleton Distillery in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. Set over 15 acres, since opening as a visitor' ...

. In 2013 Smith made gold leaf glass signs for the

Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessories, ...

store in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

in London. The Ginstitute on

Portobello Road Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. It runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On Saturdays it is ...

, London, has received ornate gilded advertising mirrors produced by Dave Smith. Later in 2013, the artist worked on an album cover for the band The

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and gar ...

. The artwork was used for the single " Beautiful War" of their album "

Mechanical Bull A mechanical bull, also known as a bucking machine, is a device that replicates the sensation of riding a bucking animal, such as a rodeo bull or horse popularized by Sherwood Cryer. It is usually powered by a variable-speed electric motor. Pad ...

". Other notable commissions in the music industry include artwork for the Band The

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

(Typography and poster)

Bernie Marsden Bernard John Marsden (born 7 May 1951) is an English rock and blues guitarist. He is primarily known for his work with Whitesnake, having written or co-written with David Coverdale many of the group's hit songs, such as "Fool for Your Loving", ...

's biography book cover (

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own entit ...

) Wheres My Guitar. In 2015, Smith was invited to Disney World, Florida to talk and present to over 100 Disney Imagineers about his philosophy on design across Europe, as well as his Victorian style lettering he has become famous for. In 2015 Smith designed the bottle artwork for

Booth's Gin Booth's Gin is a once well-known and widely consumed make of London dry gin, recently reintroduced after years of being unavailable. It was founded by a Lincolnshire branch of the ancient Booth family in about 1740. Booth's Gin was most famousl ...

. In 2016, Smith made a commission for

and

PRS Guitars Paul Reed Smith Guitars, also known as PRS Guitars, is an American guitar and amplifier manufacturer located in Stevensville, Maryland. The company was founded in 1985 in Annapolis, Maryland by Paul Reed Smith. Products manufactured by PRS inclu ...

to design a hand-signed sticker in the f-hole of a special Limited Edition run of Private Stock named the “Super Eagle” guitar. In 2019, Smith hand designed the monograms for the Limited Edition guitars made for

The Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Singer and bassist Ken Casey has been the band's only constant member. Other current members include drummer Matt Kelly (1997– ), singer Al Barr (199 ...

made by

Duesenberg Guitars Duesenberg is a brand for electric string instruments founded in 1986 and located in Hannover, Germany. The headquarter is in Hannover, Germany, (some of the hardware is made by Gotoh which is manufactured in the far east) they are known for using ...

. In 2019 Smith created and designed the Album Cover for the Kris Barras Band. Light it Up. Smith was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebration ...

for services to reversed glass ornamental artistry.

References

External links

Official website

Crafting Booth’s Gin With David A Smith
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, David A. 1968 births Living people People from Stroud English stained glass artists and manufacturers English designers Members of the Order of the British Empire Album-cover and concert-poster artists