Born near Yosemite, California, Gaia was exposed to the family business of fine jewelry at a young age. In his early adulthood, he apprenticed with various jewelers until he obtained the necessary knowledge to successfully run his own trade shop in Seattle, Washington for five years. He then traveled extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the South Seas studying numerous cultures and formulating his unique interpretation of their art forms. Gaia settled in Baden, Switzerland for eight years and created his own gallery, Step Two, where he began fashioning unusual combinations of exotic metals, stones and earth tones.

Gaia’s techniques and style are a derivative of his direct experience alongside some of the top Swiss and French goldsmiths, including C. Thoma and Otto Seamuller. He learned the art of Pavé diamond setting and gold and platinum fabrication in the old European methods. Now residing in Sedona, Arizona, amongst the beauty of the red rocks, Gaia’s inspiration is heightened and ever expanding into unique talismans, exotic collars, including the utilization of United States gold coins, ammonite and trilobite fossils, precious stones and diamonds to fashion a new series of iron rings. The iron was salvaged from old mines and a 1930’s vintage Ford truck Gaia found out in the desert. He is an alchemist in the sense he can take old, antiquated materials and use them to their best advantage in the creation of exquisite, wearable art.

Custom jewelry, gold jewelry, goldsmith