John Bahr and Lynda Fullerton like to learn new things. Having designed jewelry together since 1990, they had the basics down a while ago. But they get bored easily so they developed an annual tradition. As each year draws to a close, they put their heads together and come up with something both want...
Who needs fertility treatments when you can wear jewelry instead – particularly, jewelry like this? Among the earliest treasures on display right now at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is this Nubian pendant of gold and rock crystal made around 740 B.C. with the golden head of Hathor, a goddess beloved in ancient...
Craft show season is now in full swing and – no surprise – most of the jewelry we’re seeing this summer is made from silver. Even the gold accents are diminishing as gold hits record highs. What do you do when silver (or even recycled aluminum) is all you or your customers can afford?...
Andrea Rosenfeld designs what she calls “healing jewelry,” using stones known for their healing powers and the technique of Reiki. She started designing jewelry fairly recently but brings a wealth of experience and skills to her creations – loom weaving, silk screening, photography, garment design, drawing, painting, ceramics, and wood-working – not to mention...
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...
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...
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...
