Barbara Bayne’s jewelry is often dark and organic, like something dug from the earth. Perhaps this has something to do with her years of living and designing in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, where she got her inspiration on daily strolls through the woods with her yellow Lab. Bayne relocated to Havre de...
Not all designers work individually with couples to customize wedding rings, but sometimes galleries that represent those designers will serve as liaison. This allows designers who prefer to work independently to benefit from the demand for customized wedding rings and for couples to end up with a favorite designer’s work as a wedding ring,...
As you might expect from a goldsmith trained in Germany but living in California, Birgit Kupke-Peyla makes jewelry that blends the exquisite craftsmanship of her homeland with the multicultural influences of her adopted home.
Yes, $10,000 worth of designer gems around your throat make a statement, but these hand-crafted works of art will get you noticed too. They may say something a little different though: You prefer art over status symbols. You’re more interested in design than intrinsic value. Maybe even that there’s irony in your sense of...
As I mentioned last year, SOFA (Sculptural Objects Functional Art) has come to represent the apex of craft and art, where skilled handwork intersects with wild creativity. SOFA began in Chicago and that show, held in November, is still the ultimate showcase for craft galleries. There’s a SOFA show in Santa Fe now as...
Karen Gilbert doesn’t consider herself a chain-maker in the traditional sense, even though she has been obsessed with exploring the creative potential of links since she began making jewelry. She doesn’t use the word “chain-maker,” she says, because it implies that she knows the basic types and techniques of that historical category and she...
Buyers Market of American Craft applies the same high standards to the student entries to the NICHE Awards, with one exception. They don’t have to show “market viability.” In other words, student artists are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild. Congratulations to these talented young designers. Top to bottom: Patterns of Being by...
Here is some of the charming, inventive and beautifully-crafted jewelry that won NICHE Awards this year from the Buyers Market of American Craft. These winners in the professional categories were chosen for technical excellence, originality, creativity and market viability. Top to bottom: Unearthed Flora by Barb Fajardo of Albuquerque, N.M., winner polymer clay category...
If metalsmiths are the sculptors of the jewelry world, attracted to form and texture, enamellists are the painters, obsessed with color and line. Gemstones can be part of their palette, a way to extend, highlight and balance the enamelwork. They can also clash, compete and draw attention away from it. Is it any wonder...
Lucie Heskett-Brem makes chains, but not as we’ve come to know them. She makes chains Old World-style: hand-crafted, luxury items in high-karat gold. Her chains are carried by galleries like Aaron Faber of New York and Bentley & Skinner of London, jewelers by appointment to the English royal family. Handmade chains are definitely a...
