Jewelry Work and Design Influence: My fascination with the sea extends not only to the beauty of the life found there, but also to the history scattered across its bottom. Shipwrecks have long captivated my imagination and, as a kid, dreamt one day of finding sunken treasure. The word conjures up the splendor of antiquity such as the fantastic finds of Tutankhamen's tomb, the gold, silver, and jewels of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha (a Spanish treasure galleon sunk in 1622), the doubloons and pieces of eight from the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet, the jewel-encrusted objects of the Imperial Treasury in Vienna and the British Crown Jewels, along with many others. This insatiable fascination with treasure has since turned into a passion for creating it. Inspired by the ocean and its treasures, the jewelry I create is based upon this theme. However, just as not all treasure is jewelry, not all jewelry is treasure. For me, it is how the rich yellow of high-karat gold combines with vibrantly-colored gemstones to create something so exquisite that it transcends the word "jewelry" and enters the realm of "TREASURE"!
With this as my starting point, I have focused on the ancient Etruscan technique of granulation to create modern pieces echoing the opulence of the distant past for those seeking their own piece of contemporary treasure.