PROCESS

FROM MY HANDS TO YOURS

The sparkle of crystal, the shimmer of pearls, the gleam of gold and the illusion is complete. A magic circle of hand-textured 22k gold comes alive with an explosion of natural Herkimer quartz crystals. More 22k gold cradles a strand of baroque Australian South Sea cultured pearls in a necklace that celebrates the organic forms of the natural world, both land and sea.

What was it before?

I melt it with a torch and shape it using tools that would have been familiar to the goldsmiths of Ancient Greece. The traditional way of making jewelry is like living history. I love working in 22k gold because it’s so malleable: the vision in my mind gradually becomes a shining form in my hands.

Some gems I have had for 15 years and tried several times to do something with them, but gems have to cooperate. It’s as if the gem has a say in when the piece is the right setting for it. As if it gives permission and says: “it’s my time.”

The finished piece isn’t always what I had sketched on paper, which is fine.

When I work with the gold, I’m always looking for the happy accident, the movement that the metal naturally makes that I can incorporate into the final design.

Crafting each design with my own hands gives it a human touch that can’t be replicated any other way. I hope you feel that warmth every time you wear the piece.

Process