The Artisan of Soho The workshop air in Birmingham is thick with the scent of lacquer and the fine dust of papier-mâché. Here, a young man named Daniel Bond learns the meticulous discipline of the japanner. He is an apprentice to Henry Clay, mastering the art of decorating luxury goods. By 1757, his hands are no longer merely working for others; he has taken charge of the ornamental department at Matthew Boulton's Soho Manufactory. He is a man of industry, a craftsman shaping the decorative surfaces of an era, yet a different ambition begins to stir beneath the surface of his commercial dutie…