I am an Atlanta-based goldsmith and designer, hand fabricating my jewelry in silver, gold, and platinum. I build my jewels working directly with the metal: milling, drawing, bending, forming, raising, annealing, soldering, sawing, filing, burring, emerying, and polishing in my studio. The jewels are born of great passion and tenaciousness.

My jewelry is casual, comfortable to wear, functional, conforming to the body, and precious. I want to create talismans and keepsakes to wear every day.

I use recycled fine gold and alloy 22 K and 18 K red and yellow golds myself in my shop to my own specifications. I also work with fine silver, sterling silver, 18 K white gold, 18 K palladium white gold, 950 platinum ruthenium and 900 platinum iridium, all purchased from a Responsible Source Certified refiner.

Stone selecting is a specialty in its own right. It takes years of study, experience at the wholesale gem shows, and working with dealers to know even a small fraction of the gemstone universe. I have taken courses with GIA, AGTA, Gemworld International and love to go to the wholesale shows, especially the annual Tucson shows, to browse, learn, buy, and continue my education. I prefer quirky, rough-cut stones, or even uncut crystals with tons of color and personality. I appreciate stones polished free hand, creating imperfect facets, especially antique diamonds. Tumbled beads and smooth cabochons highlight the gem’s own glow, color, and inclusions. Pearls, tourmalines, and sapphires in every hue and form are some of my favorite gems.

Jewelry has always had special associations for me. My grandmother, Ruth Coleman, was a connoisseur and great jewelry lover. She let me accompany her to many of her meetings with dealers and even my first trip to the Tucson gem show. She loved to wear her vast collection, looking as regal as a queen. Her infectious passion rubbed off on me, and ever since I have been smitten with gems and jewels.

I’ve always loved craft and design. I assumed when I was a little girl that I would be some kind of studio craftsperson. In my younger days, when raising our two kids, I channeled that creativity into learning the craft of bread baking and food writing, becoming a Certified Wholesale Baker from the Manhattan School of Baking. I explored the subject for 18 years, traveling to teach classes, events, and shows, being a founding member of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, authoring numerous articles for home and professional bakers, and two books about the craft, Artisan Baking and A Blessing of Bread, ultimately earning an IACP for Artisan Baking and James Beard Awards for both books. (I sell A Blessing of Bread directly on Amazon. To find my page, click “other sellers” and be sure to buy a new book from Maggie Glezer Books.)

At 44, I decided that it was now or never to pivot to goldsmithing. I started off with classes in Atlanta’s Spruill Center for the Arts, where I studied with silversmith Julia Woodman, and Chastain Art Center with Debra Lynn Gold, then attended classes in San Francisco’s Revere Academy with Jean Stark and Michael Good.

For the past 10 years, I have had the great privilege to study with Hans Hoerstebrock, a German master goldsmith. He started his career at Hemmerle in Munich, and then moved to New York and goldsmithed for Jean Stark, Noma Copley, Tiffany, Van Cleef and Arpels, Seamen Schlepps and many other famous jewelry houses. He is fascinated with ancient fabrication techniques, insistent about perfection, loves vintage jewelry tools, and has passed all this knowledge and passion onto his students.

I am so fortunate to have this work, to experience every stage of creation, from the first inklings of a design to the finished jewel, literally materializing my visions.