D J Stewart

Inspired by designs thousands of years old, Danny Stewart has honed and perfected his style and technique since 1968. Over the years he has worked with diamond design and the lapidary arts, and his skill is unrivaled in casting and the jewelers' torch.

Born in Great Bend, Kansas in 1949, Danny Stewart was raised by his mother and grandmother and grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He first learned jewelry making from a highschool friend when he was 18 and first supported himself making bronze pieces for surfers and bikini ornaments. While in Florida he took private lapidary lessons and began to develop his own style. He returned to Tulsa to apprentice with a master jeweler who was also the tribal historian for the Cherokee tribe. There he was influenced by artists Leon Gilmore and Harry Anderson.

Danny and his wife who is a 3rd generation New Mexican moved to Taos in 1985 some years after he saw the King Tut collection which was on tour. Her uncle opened a shop on the Taos Plaza there and Danny leapt in. He began incorporating channel inlay and diamond pave in his work and using the lush colors of ancient Egyptian work. Thus his unique style began to come together.

As he describes it, the master for one of his narrow channel inlay bracelets typically has over a hundred solder joints and 60 to 80 precision cut stones. It is a labor of love. "People ask me how I can stand that level of stress" he says, "why don't you get out in the world and have a life?" He replies, "What? And quit show business?"

Although he rarely enters competitions, Danny has won blue ribbons in every event he has entered. D.J. Stewart lives and works in his studio in northern New Mexico.