Jennifer Jesse Smith

At the age of 7, Jennifer Jesse Smith's mother brought her to the Louvre. She recalls the magic of the paintings she saw, as though each artist was speaking directly to her. Her path was immediately clear. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she fell in love with sculpture and began pouring her own bronzes. But heavy bronzes don't travel easily and her nomadic lifestyle led her to jewelry - sculpture on a smaller and much more intimate scale.

Bringing sculpture to life as jewelry became an adventure; her quest for the perfect stone, the search for the archetypal design and the alchemy of alloys. Crafted of sterling silver and gemstones, each piece is the culmination of a journey of creation. Jennifer Jesse Smith believes each piece is awaiting its home. "It already belongs to a specific soul out there" she says, "and part of the adventure is in the coming together of the two. The blending of energies."