This post is overdue but never too late to celebrate. This past October our own Peter van Walraven, of van Walraven Goudsmid, won 1st place in the 2nd Annual Emerging Artist, nation wide competition presented by the Canadian Gemmological Association. Peter joined the blue, jewel house of Roncy in May after graduating top of his class from Georgian College in Barrie.
His piece titled “Metal, Stone and Crystal” is a unique kinetic neck-piece that has caught the eye of many. The piece is all completely hand-made, aside from the chains. Peter cut and polished all the stone and crystalline material by hand. The center piece is made of synthetic cobalt-blue spinel set with in the center of cast sterling silver and 10 karat yellow gold accents. The side pieces or weights are cast in sterling silver with howlite and black jasper inlay accented with lapis lazuli and gold tips.
Interestingly this piece was originally inspired by the hoodie. The stings you pull on the side to draw the hood in tighter is the idea behind the kinetic aspect of the piece. By pulling the sides you can wear the central crystal as a coacher or have it lay lower on your chest, you decide how you want to wear it.
Peter has many ideas for this design as he loves to use synthetic material. Why not have a synthetic sapphire bar? Or do you prefer ruby, or emerald, maybe amethyst, or even alexandrite? Stay tuned for more! You can view Peters work in studio or via his Instagram @vwgoudsmid or his website www.vwgoudsmid.com.