Metalsmith Benchtalk with Reba Engel, Maker of Modern Jewelry

Our guest on Metalsmith Benchtalk on Thursday, September 18th, 2014 at 3:00 PDT/ 6:00 EDT is Reba Engel, jewelry designer, metalsmith and former student of Jay Whaley!

We encourage you to participate in this live interview by logging into the chatroom or sending a message to Whaley Studio's Facebook Page.

About Reba: “Little did I know that my first jewelry project as a child, assembling broken pieces of my mother’s costume jewelry from a shoebox, would inspire a career! A high school class taught me the fundamentals of fabricating jewelry and I was hooked."

This passion for jewelry led to my first bold collection in 1999 — clearly an expression of my Bachelors in Applied Arts and a career in architectural design. These engineered pieces were cut out by my computer drawings and a water-jet system; a nontraditional metalsmithing process suggested to me by my college jewelry professor, Arline Fisch. As I construct the cast originals, I modify the technological feeling of the forms with hand applied finishes.

Over the years, my work has remained modern yet it has evolved with more fabricated designs and custom cut gemstones. My first job introduced me to the fashion industry where I spent several years and influenced my love for textiles, sewing, embroidery and hand painting fabric. From that inspiration, I developed a needlework series where I crochet chain and weave precious beads onto chain to drape like fabric as well as etch patterns onto metal in relief.

For more about Reba, visti her website and Facebook Page.