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Dina Baloyan

Dina Baloyan always knew that jewelry was an important part of her life. Constantly wishing she could modify her rings and necklaces she decided one day to take a jewelry making class. She started silversmithing classes at the 92Y in New York City in 2004 and felt an instant connection to the metal.

Today, she lives in Seattle where she continues to learn and explore the art of metalsmithing. Dina is known in the jewelry shop as the artist with the smallest, most delicate components, continually astounding all who watches her work.

With a former education in Computer and Information Science, Dina Baloyan is now the founder of B.Dina jewelry and a supporter of independent designers!

Geoffrey Barker

"I have difficulty calling myself a metal smith or a potter or an IT consultant but I am those things. The broader truth is that I am a maker. The media is unimportant. This has been true for me since I made my first airplane at the age of 4. I am not always a skilled maker (the airplane did not take me off the ground) but I am always an enthusiastic maker.

I have always been intrigued by how things come together to make new things. More specifically, I wonder about the thought process that spawned this particular juxtaposition. For me, when I set out to make an object, I sometimes have a clear idea of the end result and at other times, I only have an element or a doodle to begin with. Always though, I have this internal assembly/disassembly movie that I find captivating. I see the object in my head and turn it around. I pass through layers to understand it?s insides or add layers to see it whole. I try to imagine how this pressing on that will manifest a pin back that stays closed (or not) or a retaining wall that will not fall over (or will). The actual building of a thing is an entirely different affair. It has its own pleasures and rewards but the thing I appreciate most about building is that it enriches the vocabulary and scenery of my internal films.

Most recently I have been working in chasing & repousse, metal fabrication, clay and lapidary disciplines. I?ve also been building a new shop from the foundation up."

Ramona Bell

When she was seventeen, Ramona Bell fell in love with antique jewellery, Art nouveau and Bohemian garnets to be precise. The wish to be able to create these miniature pieces of art herself started to fill her dreams ever since. After a 3 year apprenticeship as goldsmith in Germany and several years of work in different jewellery galleries there was nothing more exiting, than experimenting with plastic, aluminium, rusty iron, fur, you name it. Circumstances changed and so did her job. A long break from her craft was the result. Dana's Studio gave her the possibility to come back to smiting, soldering, sawing, you name it.

Chrissy Burd

Chrissy Burd came to jewelry-making in 2005 at North Seattle Community College under the fine tutelage of Dana Cassara. With the desire to make dazzling rings using beach glass and other found objects, she set up a small studio at home and attended classes at Danaca Design Metal Crafting Center whenever possible to create the solid silversmithing foundation that she stands on today. Chrissy graduated from Syracuse University in 1992 with a BA in Architecture and has toiled, with varying levels of success, at numerous creative endeavors, including: screen-printing, drawing, painting, parenting, encaustic, photography, sculpture, writing, sewing, collage, and even a brief dabble in shoe-making. Chrissy is often inspired by the ?scrap-bin? and looks to find motivating solutions to art's many questions. Her jewelry design, while still in the stages of infancy (or toddlerhood), demonstrates her ability to create interest with three dimensions of metal and promises to make the world a better place one ring at a time. I love Chrissy Burd.

Dana Cassara

Dana Cassara has been making jewelry since she was about 8. She began with seed beads, first making daises chain necklaces. Later she taught herself to weave them into bracelets with complex designs she drew on graph paper as well as thread them onto brass safety pins precisely constructed into wide bangles. After getting her ears pierced she began making earrings. These stylish pieces where made from thin cardboard cut into modern shapes then carefully wrapped in origami paper, or shinny candy wrappers, and finally coated with clear nail polish.

In the early 90's she took her first metalsmithing and jewelry design class and has been passionate about it ever since. This medium, metal combined with just about anything else, provides Dana with a surplus of creative and technical opportunities. This fact along with the intimate scale of jewelry, make it a truly satisfying process one that never fails to inspire design. Making jewelry, unlike many of her other artistic pursuits, demands a level of attention that requires absolute concentration and patience. This necessary focus generates a sort of internal calm difficult to attain any other way. It is an active meditation. The personal nature of jewelry adds yet another dimension one that brings sentiment into the practice. Dana enjoys making gifts and sentimental pieces best.

Teaching and facilitating the art of making jewelry is fundamental in Dana's life however at the core is the simply joy of making.

Kristin Holden

After a successful career in marketing Kristin left the corporate world to raise a family and inadvertently, realize her talent as a jewelry designer. She moved beyond the boundary of beads and wire just a few years ago and has uncovered a love for working in silver. Captivated by etched and roll printed patterns she began exploring her first series of pieces using plates she created by hand-drawing resists for etching, then roll printing them in a rolling mill creating charming and totally unique surfaces. Kristin still loves beads but now makes them herself, not one the same. Most recently wax carving has grabbed her attention and the possibilities continue to expand. Kristin enthusiastically teaches art weekly at the cooperative school her daughter attends.

Nancy Hom

As a young child Nancy Hom's mother, Sun Lan Hom, nurtured her daughter's creativity, by teaching her the intricacies of sewing, knitting and crocheting. These skills, coupled with her mother's example as a sewing machine operator and freelance jewelry maker encouraged Nancy to pursue her own dreams of becoming a designer. Nancy has enjoyed success as an apparel designer for the past 30 years, and began her own jewelry line under the name, Sunlan Designs in 2007. Nancy's pride in her Chinese heritage and desire to honor her beloved mother are the inspiration for each piece in the Sunlan collection. Her work is sold locally in Seattle to help promote communities and causes close to home.

To view more pieces, visit www.sunlandesigns.com

Charise Randell

Charise Randell began her artisitic career designing women?s apparel professionally in Seattle for collections including Eddie Bauer?s AKA, internationally for Sergio Valente and for Halogen & Live a Little, available at Nordstrom. Her love for creating fashion extended naturally to jewelry, and her work reflects an appreciation for romantic European elements and delicate feminine detail.

"Creating beautiful objects to adorn the body has been a passion of mine for some time. My pieces are handcrafted and designed with the wearer in mind and are inspired by my appreciation for beauty in art and nature.

When the wearer adorns herself with a piece of my jewelry, I hope she feels that it enhances her own natural beauty."

Using combinations of semi-precious stones, enamel, and silver, each piece is crafted to create an individual and unique piece of wearable art.

Birna Sigurbjornsdottir

Coming from a long heritage of master-goldsmiths and artists, Icelandic-born jewelry artist Birna Sigurbjornsdottir has found her niche in creating beautiful, organic jewelry that allows every woman to feel unique while wearing it. Through her work she connects more deeply with her homeland of Iceland, a land of ice and fire, surrounded by water and myth. Her inspiration grows from that legacy.

"I am most influenced by the rugged landscape of my country: the fields of lava, the crashing waves of the northern seas on moonlit rocky beaches, and this imagery comes through in my creations. Much of my jewelry looks as if it was created underwater, an enchanted net rolling around on the bottom of the sea, picking up sparkling bits of silver shells and gems from the ocean floor. Some of my work looks as if it catches the ethereal shimmer moonlight makes as it hits the surface of dark water. Every piece holds a story of its incarnation, whether told by me or discovered by the wearer." www.birnajewelry.com

Allan Thorne

Born in Bellow's Falls Vermont, Allan Thorne got his start in making jewelry when a friend showed him how to solder. He fashioned a pair of earrings, and they actually sold.

Years later he began taking jewelry-making classes at the Los Angeles County Museum, and shortly thereafter created his own home jewelry studio in his living room, providing a creative outlet to cope with the stress of life in Los Angeles.

In 1992, he took up residence in Seattle and went on to work out of the Danaca Design Metal Crafting Center & Gallery, where he presently teaches and makes jewelry.

His artistic interests extend beyond jewelry-making to photography, painting, and creative writing.

Rima Zikas

Rima Zikas began creating jewelry during an extended stay abroad in 2005. Searching for a creative outlet, she signed up for a metalsmithing class at Sydney Community College on a whim, and found a true passion for the medium. Since that time, Rima has honed her skills at Danaca Design evolving her technique and cultivating her talent. Her work displays a fluid melding of the geometric and the organic, often coming together in a final form that surprises even her.

Five years. Unbelievable! None-the-less true? Please join us Saturday, December 6th, 2008 to celebrate five years of teaching, learning, creativity, success and most of all, Jewelry! As always we will host a nice spread of snacks and treats as well an abundance of totally unique, hand crafted jewelry. This is an excellent opportunity to find unique gifts for a great friend (or for yourself) while supporting a place and the people you love! 6:00 – 10:00 pm.

Come before dinner, or after dinner. Or come for dinner! And bring your friends!