Ari Norman

Ari Daniel Norman is a British designer and manufacturer of traditional and modern sterling silver jewellery and gifts. Norman is the founder and director of Ari D Norman Ltd, international supplier of sterling silver designs to the trade and consumer market, and creator of the Ari D Norman brand.

Norman was the first and only silversmith to win the Queen's Award for Export Achievement in 1989 and was awarded Freedom of the City of London in 1992 for services rendered to the British Silver industry. Norman's father, Shabse Nussbaum (later Sydney Norman), escaped the Holocaust by boarding a ship he thought was headed for the South of France only to discover he was headed for England. There he stayed, married Phillys Larkham who had originally taken him in as a Belgian refugee, and continued to work in the diamond industry for many years. In 1956, with his mother and four older sisters, Ari Norman went to live in Liberia, aged nine, with two pet chimps, a pygmy deer and a couple of pygmy hippos, whilst his father pursued his passion for discovering diamonds in West Africa. His father had an eventual breakthrough and was one of the first people to help discover diamonds in the rivers and jungles of Liberia. He was honoured by the Liberian President Tubman in the 1960s.

Having studied to become a Civil Engineer, Norman returned to Liberia in his 20s to help build roads and bridges for his father's expanding diamond mine but chose not to focus on Civil Engineering as a career path. Instead he travelled across North and South America through his 20s and 30s.

Career

Ari Norman had decided that wherever he travelled in the world, he would pick up local craft samples and send them back home. As Norman was on his world travels, he collected a wide range of items including ethnic jewellery and clothing and shipped them all home. Once back in London, Norman and his father decided to offer these unique items for sale to retailers in the West End and around the King's Road.

Norman and his father began to attend trade exhibitions throughout the United Kingdom, branching out to major European exhibitions followed by residencies in North American and Far Eastern trade exhibitions. The Ari D Norman brand grew its global identity throughout the 1980s and 1990s with Norman often attending around 36 international exhibitions a year and exporting to 80 countries. Ari D Norman revived an interest in small sterling silver accessories such as perfume bottles, thimbles, snuffboxes and collectable pillboxes.

Norman moved the business from his parents’ house to an office building in Northwest London called Argenta House. He managed to campaign the council for a name change of the local road where the office was situated and it was renamed Argenta Way.

Ari D Norman Ltd became 'the brand behind the brand'. Norman was commissioned to create work for many large brands including Parker Pens, The Orient Express and Wedgwood. For Parker Pens, he created a new version of their classic Snake Pen which is now a collector's item.

In recognition of his international work, Norman was awarded the Queens Award for Export Achievement in 1989 and was invited to Buckingham Palace. He was unable to attend this event as he was exhibiting abroad but sent his mother along instead. In 1992, he was invited to join the Worshipful Guild of Goldsmiths in recognition of his services to the silver industry and his promotion of the hallmarking system, and was awarded the Freedom of the City of London.

In 2012, Norman commissioned a series of urban art murals to be painted by a local artist, Abe Sesay, across the facade of their headquarters in London depicting a number of race issues from the Olympic Games including the members of the Israeli Olympic team who were murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos who stood for the Black Power movement at the 1968 Olympics and sprinter Jesse Owens who raced at the 1936 Olympics.

Ari Norman continues to develop the Ari D Norman brand across the globe and most recently created a new fashion jewellery brand called JewelAri.

Personal life Norman cites his grandfather's murder at the hands of the Nazis in Auschwitz as a major influence on his actions and character and continues to have a ‘holocaust’ mentality, where nothing in one's life should be taken for granted. In 2010, his thatched house caught fire and he was forced to watch from over the road for the next eight hours as eight fire engines tried to put out the roof blaze.