Patina of Age
30, 40 experiments in creating a tex-
ture before we come up with ones
we can consistently make a salable
product from,” Michael says.
Their rings are lined with a 22K
gold alloy they make themselves.
They use silver and sometimes
bronze for the texture, sometimes
alloying their silver as well. “Then we
spend hours, months, years work-
ing out the patina,” Catherine says.
“That’s the time-consuming part.”
BRINGING THE PAST
TO LIFE
“We believe ancient jewelry, discov-
ered and brought to daylight again,
belongs in a collection or museum
where people can share it,” Michael
says. They’ve been known to linger
for hours over these collections. A
couple years ago, they did a trunk
show in Manhattan and found them-
selves with a day to kill. They went tothe Metropolitan Museum of Art and
made a beeline for the antiquities.
“The minute they opened, we
were inside. When they closed, they
were pushing us out of there with
brooms,” Catherine says. “And we
only made it through maybe fi ve
rooms. We were deconstructing
each piece in terms of history and
elements.”
One piece came from a colony in
Asia Minor, they could see the infl u-
ence from trading with India, but
also the Roman infl uence. “We ana-
lyze which parts were cast, how it
was fabricated. We forget to eat and
get puckish,” she says. “I remember
walking down Fifth Avenue after-
wards on an adrenaline high. Those
pieces took our breath away. We
were immersed in each one.”
At moments like these, their next
collection is born. “It usually starts
on the walk home from the mu-seum,” Michael says. “We love to
walk so we will talk on our way back
to the hotel. These days, museums
let you take a lot of pictures on your
cellphones. We’ll haul up an im-
age and say, ‘Okay, remember this
aspect? The length of it?’
“I can picture where I want it to
be worn on the body,” Michael says.
“If it’s a pendant, maybe it wants to
be on a short chain, or a really long
chain.”
“Then I’ll chime in and say, ‘You’re
probably thinking .925. I’m thinking
bronze and possibly an emerald or
some Nevada turquoise,’” Catherine
says. “And so it evolves.”
“They say jewelry refl ects the
power and politics of the time, and
I believe that’s true,” Catherine says.
“The context of the piece, the his-
torical environment, is critical. When
you see jewelry in museums or on
site at archaeological excavations,“The minute [the Met] opened,
we were inside. When they
closed, they were pushing
us out of there with brooms,
and we only made it through
maybe five rooms. We were
deconstructing each piece in
terms of history and elements.”Aquitaine chain, freeform Opal Twilight Pendant
natural opal, purple sapphires, 22K gold64 LAPIDARY JOURNAL JEWELRY ARTIST