First Name: Diana

Store Name: OrganicMetallurgy

Tell us a little about yourself.

I have a degree in Design from UCD, and worked in Berkeley, CA for a textile

company. Then I left to raise my kids, but always continued to create and develop

in many different mediums, primarily textiles. But stones and lapidary always held

a fascination for me. Many years later, I returned to UCD to take a class in

lapidary, and I was in heaven! My childhood experiences with a tumbler came

back, and many hours spent on hands and knees as a child, searching through

the landscaping rock paths of my childhood home for rounded and smooth river

quartz.

My growing collection of cabochons I made led to wire wrapping. Starting with

more classic wraps, to the creative genius of Eni and teachings of DKHeath, and

using those skills as a springboard for my own visions, using wire as a pallet of

color.

My first piece of jewelry

I got a tumbler for Christmas. My parents made me set it up in the garage,

because of the 24 hour noise. I 'visited' it every day. It took forever! Weeks and

weeks of the grits, and tumbling. When it was finished, what treasures! I

remember a particular triangular piece of an agate slab that was the most

beautiful of all. I glued on a cap, and it was my magic stone!

What inspires you?

I am inspired by rock and nature. Mythology and legends. Jewelry as adornment.

Manipulating energy within the coils of wire.

Describe your style.

I like to think that it's a melding of metal and stone, two very inorganic substances,

into a singular dance when combined reflects something fleeting, captured.

Who is your harshest critic?

People have been supportive, and I get attached to very few, since I see myself

as a conduit rather than owning the piece. Must there be a critic? :)

How did you come up with your company name?

Creating jewelry is a practice of meditation for me. I honestly don't know how a

piece will turn out until it's finished. In the stillness, the next step is revealed, and I

follow it where it goes, until it lets me know it's complete. If it's particularly strong, I

might know a few steps ahead and where it wants to go. In choosing
'Organicmetallurgy' I'm acknowledging that the process is organic in nature. And I

have no inner rules of mixing the metals as I do, because each has it's own

energy field of attraction. So 'an organic mixing of metals' or 'Organicmetallurgy'

seemed descriptive of what I do!