• Biography

    Toch is a London-based artist metalsmith and lecturer at the Royal College of Art whose work is held in major private and public collections including the V&A Museum, The Crafts Council, The Goldsmiths’ Company, the Museum of London, the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Birmingham Museum, National Museums Scotland, National Museum Wales, the Ulster Museum Belfast and The Jewish Museum New York. A finalist in the inaugural Loewe Craft Prize, she has received numerous awards including a Gold Award from The Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council and the European Prize for Applied Arts (2018). In 2021 she was commissioned by the V&A Gilbert Trust to create Place to Place, a work responding to the restitution of a historic gold ewer from the Gilbert Collection to Turkey, now permanently displayed in the V&A’s Gilbert Galleries.

    Working with the vessel as her primary form, Toch begins with a flat sheet of metal and fabricates delicate hollow objects using traditional tools and hammers. Through a labour-intensive process of hand texturing and patination she develops intricate, calligraphic surface patterns and internal compositional contrasts. The interiors of her pieces are treated in diverse ways to reveal the sensory qualities of the material: some are polished to a mirror-like finish that reflects their surroundings, while others contain gemstones that roll gently when handled, producing a subtle sound that captures the lyrical musicality of metal.

     

    Toch’s poetic Shrouded series further explores nature’s own mark-making. After shaping each vessel, she buries it in the earth, relinquishing control to mud, water, minerals and air. Over several months these subterranean forces create shifting, polychromatic patinas, a process and outcome that evoke human experiences of endurance, transformation and emergence.

  • Works
    • & JIM PARTRIDGE. Silver Ghost
      & JIM PARTRIDGE. Silver Ghost, 2021
      Oak, recycled britannia silver
    • Oval hand mirror (chromatic)
      Oval hand mirror (chromatic), 2025
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze), Oxidised bonze mount
    • Melting (wide oval hand mirror)
      Melting (wide oval hand mirror), 2025
      28 H x 18 W x 2 D cm
      11 H x 7 W x 0.7 D in
    • Shattered
      Shattered, 2025
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze)
      Six parts with mounts attached
    • Through a Metal, Darkly
      Through a Metal, Darkly, 2025
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze), oxidised bronze mount
    • Crack'd
      Crack'd, 2024
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze), Oxidised bronze mount
    • Melty hand mirror (small)
      Melty hand mirror (small), 2024
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze), Oxidised bronze mount
    • Large tall oval hand mirror (Cloudy)
      Large tall oval hand mirror (Cloudy) , 2023
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze), Oxidised bronze mount
    • Large round hand mirror (Cloudy)
      Large round hand mirror (Cloudy), 2023
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze), Oxidised bronze mount
    • Beyond a Glance - Large Tall Oval Mirror 1 no 20
      Beyond a Glance - Large Tall Oval Mirror 1 no 20, 2023
      Speculum metal alloy (white bronze)
      Oxidised bronze mount
    • Mirror of Time - Autumn
      Mirror of Time - Autumn, 2023
      Bronze, silver plate
      Buried in London during autumn
    • Mirror of Time - Autumn
      Mirror of Time - Autumn, 2023
      Bronze, silver plate
      Buried in London during autumn
    • Mirrors of Time, See Saw
      Mirrors of Time, See Saw, 2023
      Bronze, flint, iron ore, silver plate
      One buried in Coldfall woods for 31 days (right in image)
    • Shaped by Light II
      Shaped by Light II, 2024
      Silver-plated gilding metal, oxidised
    • Shrouded 6 months under the water spout
      Shrouded 6 months under the water spout, 2024
      Copper
    • Shrouded 4 months
      Shrouded 4 months , 2024
      Silver plated, soil
    • Autumn Urns (tall)
      Autumn Urns (tall), 2023
      Copper
      Buried in London for 2 months close to an underground bunker
    • Shrouded
      Shrouded, 2023
      Silver plated copper alloy
      buried for 6 months
    • Gold Reflection
      Gold Reflection, 2024
      Gold plate
    • New Moon
      New Moon, 2024
      Britannia silver (oxidised)
  • Signature Works
    • Beyond A Glance, 2023 Speculum metal alloy (using recycled copper and tin)
      Beyond A Glance, 2023
      Speculum metal alloy (using recycled copper and tin)
    • Pooled Reflections, 2020 Britannia silver
      Pooled Reflections, 2020
      Britannia silver
    • Blushed Whispering Vessel, 2023 Silver, copper, grey, white moonstones
      Blushed Whispering Vessel, 2023
      Silver, copper, grey, white moonstones
    • & JIM PARTRIDGE What is Knot - I, 2023 Oak, silver
      & JIM PARTRIDGE What is Knot - I, 2023
      Oak, silver
  • Installation Shots
  • Exhibitions

  • Stories