About Lux Elementum Jewelry

The Story

It all started innocently enough.  Many years ago I was looking for a new hobby, something creative to get me out of my head after a long work week.  In an effort to help, a friend, (and avid jewelry beader), took me to a big sales event at a local bead shop where she gave me an empty basket, told me to look around, and have fun.  I was stunned at the enormity of the options.  Rows and rows of tables covered in beads of all materials, shapes, and colors, but it wasn’t long before I found myself drawn to the metal and stone offerings, perhaps a sign of things to come. 

I came home that evening with a bag full of beads and supplies and spent the next several weeks learning how to create necklaces, earrings, and the like.  It was a great way to enter the jewelry world and I think not an unusual one for many jewelers.  Wanting to increase my knowledge of the craft, I searched for opportunities to broaden my education and found an interesting workshop for beginning metalsmiths.  Initially, I thought this would be a way to learn to make my own metal beads, and it was, but what I didn’t expect was how much I enjoyed smithing.  I mean really loved it.  Hammers, tongs, torches, anvils, files, and saws; metalsmithing became my thing and I never looked back. 

Now, several years later, I’m blessed with a fully-fledged metals studio, (thank you to my partner and husband, a gifted mechanical engineer and designer in his own right), and a raging tool-and-gemstone-buying habit that I need to support, (a common affliction among jewelers that they don’t tell you about when you start out).  Out of this convergence of abundance and need, Lux Elementum Jewelry was born.  The name is Latin for “light” and “elements” (earth, air, fire, water).

The Jewelry

The signature style of Lux Elementum is evolving as I add new techniques and ideas.  I like variety in my work so some days it’s large, one-of-a-kind statement pieces, other days it’s smaller, more intimate compositions, but all of it is designed, produced, and finished in my studio.  A large part of the work is in sterling and fine silver accompanied by semi-precious stones of all types and sizes.  There are also some pieces of mixed materials including silver, copper and brass, with various stones and unusual types of finishes.  Finally, there's a dedicated copper line featuring a forging technique called “Foldforming” (invented by master metalsmith Charles Lewton-Brain), which showcases this beautiful and lustrous metal at it's best as it transforms the jewelry into wearable art.

The Thanks

I was in an online jewelry workshop recently and heard a fellow student describe themselves as “self-taught,” a descriptor that I had often used about myself.  The workshop teacher, a master artisan and jeweler, gently corrected the student by reminding all of us that the moniker “self-taught” doesn’t apply to us.  Did we invent the techniques of forging and forming?  How about brazing, did we come up with that?  Of course not.  We stand on the shoulders of those who came before.  We build on their techniques and hone the skills for our own use, but we didn’t invent them.  Instead of referring to ourselves as “self-taught,” the teacher suggested that we use the term “self-directed.”  That resonated with me and to honor that, I will say that I am self-directed in my skills and knowledge and stand on the shoulders of many master artisans, jewelers and smiths.  I’ve met some in books, others via the internet, and some I have had the honor of meeting in person or in video conferencing.  I am grateful to all of them for sharing their knowledge, skills and time.