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 exper ...

, glass embosser, gilder and

signwriting Sutton SignWriting, or simply SignWriting, is a system of written sign languages. It is highly featural and visually iconic: the shapes of the characters are abstract pictures of the hands, face, and body; and unlike most written words, which ...

artist based in

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. 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 parishes in England, civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at ...

. 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 potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

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. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

from

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

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 small card, similar to a visiting card, formerly distributed to advertise businesses. Larger than modern business cards, they could be rectangular or square, and often featured maps useful for locating a business in the days ...

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

Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

'' and the '' David Letterman Show''. Besides the album cover, David Smith designed artwork for the single " Queen of California". 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 () 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 in C ...

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 Old Midleton Distillery, also known as the Jameson Experience, Midleton, is a former Irish whiskey distillery that was turned into a museum and visitor centre located in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland. Set over 15 acres, since opening as a ...

. In 2013 Smith made gold leaf glass signs for the

Burberry Burberry Group plc is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry and headquartered in London, England. It designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats, leather accessories, and footwear. It is l ...

store in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

in London. The Ginstitute on

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 home to Portobello ...

, 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 music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...

. The artwork was used for the single " Beautiful War" of their album ''Mechanical Bull''. 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 Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

(typography and poster) and

Bernie Marsden Bernard John Marsden (7 May 1951 – 24 August 2023) was 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 f ...

's biography book cover (

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

) ''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 Gin, dry gin, recently reintroduced after years of being unavailable. It was founded by a Lincolnshire branch of the ancient Booth baronets, Booth family in about 1740. Booth's G ...

. In 2016, Smith made a commission for

and

PRS Guitars Paul Reed Smith Guitars, also known as PRS Guitars or simply PRS, is an American guitar and amplifier manufacturer founded in 1985 in Annapolis, Maryland by Paul Reed Smith. After dropping out of college, Smith began making guitars by hand and ...

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. The current lineup consists of co-lead vocalist and bassist Ken Casey, drummer Matt Kelly, co-lead vocalist Al Barr (on hiatus from the band since 2022) ...

made by Duesenberg Guitars. In 2019 Smith created and designed the album cover for the Kris Barras Band's ''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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two 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 celebratio ...

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 British album-cover and concert-poster artists