Welcome to Art by Zahrt! It has taken a long and windy path to get here, but I am happy to finally share the results of my creative endeavors with you. In this post, I’ll share a bit about my background and how Art by Zahrt came to be.
Seven years ago, I stepped into my first jewelry-making studio. I took an introductory course while at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study in Manhattan, and that kicked off a journey into what I came to know as “the Picking World.” The course instructor sent us all uptown to get supplies from a store called Metalliferous. Little did I know that this place would change the course of my life forever. When I walked into the second story shop, a narrow counter, crowded with strange supplies on all sides, forced the customers into a bustling huddle. The store itself is a wild beehive with cavernous bins filled with dreamy, disorganized knicknacks from all over. Anything you can imagine having to do with jewelry-making is in this space. Over the course of the next two years in Manhattan, I practically lived here.
Many of my guiding philosophies and nuggets of wisdom come from encounters in this store. The owners of the shop used to get their inventory from the most random of places. I started to collect random objects and beads anywhere I went in an effort to amass a mini-Metalliferous in my apartment. It’s amazing what you can find when your ears and eyes are perked. I continue to collect at least something, anything I can use in my creative work when I travel. Each little object brings those trips and adventures back to life, and I hope to share those moments of inspiration with you here as I actually put these materials into pieces of jewelry.
In 2004, when I moved out to Berkeley to pursue my PhD in German Literature and Film, my experiments with jewelry-making took a backseat to my academic life. Coursework proved to be intense and time-consuming. I spent most of my free time taking up the sport of cycling in the Berkeley and Oakland hills on the Calcycling team. The athletic life in the Bay Area stimulated my body, as the books were stimulating my mind, but after my qualifying exams, I felt the urge to get back into making jewelry in serious way. I started to take courses in jewelry-making again, and I found myself on the hunt for more ways to improve my skills. Don’t worry, I’m still writing my dissertation! But that is a topic for a different venue!
The idea for Art by Zahrt came into existence this January, after a great conversation with an owner of a jewelry business in Oakland. His advice to me was “just do it!” and so, after piles of paperwork, Art by Zahrt is now the newest small jewelry business in Berkeley, CA.
On my blog, you can read about the materials I use, my encounters in the picking world, and the sources of my inspiration. No two pieces of my jewelry are ever alike. Part of this has to do with how I find my materials, but also, I find that it feels great to wear something that no one else on earth can wear. So come back often, dig around in my slice of the picking world. Hopefully you’ll like what you see and like wearing it even more!
