ABOUT

Susan Hamilton Meier crafts each jewel by hand in her New York City studio alongside her jewel-loving pit bull, Tiger.

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Fascinated by the golden treasures of ancient Egypt as a child, Susan studied art history and studio art at Dartmouth College, where she wrote her thesis on medieval Italian altarpieces. She later traveled across Mexico to the pre-Colombian archaeological sites visited by Anni Albers, who is a major influence in her work.

 

Susan started her career at Sotheby's Jewelry, surrounded by the most extraordinary jewels in the world. A lifelong passion for jewelry was ignited, and with it the calling to make fine jewels with her own hands. After graduate work at the School of Visual Arts, she studied granulation at Jewelry Arts and then discovered wax carving at the workshop of Dutch master jeweler Fred de Vos, with whom she has studied for the past 20 years.

 

Drawing on the visual language of ancient cultures, Susan explores textures, forms, and materials that channel the radiance of sunlight. Each piece starts as a tiny wax sculpture that she carves and textures by hand. Using the ancient lost-wax method of casting, these sculptures are transformed into precious objects of adornment.