DESIGN → MAKE → MAKER
The Atelier.
i.
Each is made by hand.
Every piece is hand-cast and hand-finished in small numbers. Tools are simple, time is generous, and no two pieces are exactly alike.
ii.
Materials of integrity.
14k and 18k gold, sterling silver, natural enamel, and ethically-sourced stones. Every element has a provenance and a reason for being chosen.
iii.
Built to last a lifetime.
Pieces are designed to wear daily, age gracefully, and be passed on. Repair and restoration are always available.
THE ATELIER, IN THREE ACTS
design · make · maker
I · design
the rendering — drawn by hand
II · make · III · maker
Scott Cusson — metal artist, at the bench
I bring the amulet home from pilgrimage — a sacred sand relic from Thailand, and with it the meaning tradition has given. My collaborator Scott translates that meaning by hand, in a single jewelry rendering. The sketch is where his vision and mine meet — where every Sainte-Terre piece begins.
THE PROCESS
It starts with
pilgrimage and prayer
Understanding the lore that surrounds the old piece. Collaborating with a medal artist, I give that meaning form, and adorn it with the symbolic natural elements and gemstones that carry the tradition forward.
— Kathleen
THE MAKER
Designed and handmade by a master metal artist in Massachusetts.
Each Sainte-Terre piece is hand-finished by Scott Cusson, a metal artist working in Massachusetts. His family has been in jewelry for more than three generations. Scott works quietly, for discerning customers; every piece passes through his hands — pulling chains, casting forms, finishing surfaces. He draws his inspiration from the ancient techniques of his craft and from the natural world, and treats every piece as a bespoke work of art.
The marks of his hand are quiet, but everywhere — even in the smallest details. The chain that holds the Noah's Ark medallion is set with stars he forged one at a time, by hand. A nearly lost art, kept alive in a small workshop, in small numbers, for those who notice.
Drawn by hand. Forged by fire. Made by one.
A QUIET PROVENANCE
The glass enamel work — the cobalt and caribbean blues of the Christian pieces, the deep blue of the Buddhist Royal Blue — is fired by a separate master, in a workshop whose work also circulates among the country's most established jewelry houses.
Once the design is set and the metal is shaped at the bench, certain pieces are sent on to be finished in glass and fire.
ON GLASS ENAMEL
Glass, fused to metal — made to last centuries.
The blue and cobalt pieces in the Christian and Buddhist collections are made with vitreous glass enamel — a centuries-old technique now practiced by a small number of masters in the United States, in workshops whose work also reaches the country's most established jewelry houses.
Finely ground glass is mixed with metal oxides for color, applied by hand to the medal, and fired in a kiln at roughly fifteen hundred degrees. The glass melts and fuses to the metal as a thin, hard layer. Multiple firings build the depth of color. A single error in temperature or timing can crack the enamel and destroy the piece.
The result lasts. Medieval and Renaissance glass enamels still glow today after seven hundred years.
A NOTE ON RESIN
Most enamel jewelry sold at premium prices today is not glass enamel — it is resin, a modern epoxy poured cold and cured in minutes. It looks similar at first; it behaves differently over time. Glass enamel is glass, made to last centuries. Resin enamel is colored plastic, made to be replaced.
WITH EACH PIECE
Cared for, considered, carried home.
Sainte-Terre — Holy Earth
THE INSPIRATION CARD
A folded card accompanies every piece — the gold tree on the cover, and within, the story of the tradition the piece carries and the natural element woven into it.
PRINTED ON BAMBOO PAPER
THE BOX
Large gold and gold-and-silver pieces are presented in a hand-crafted maple box, the wood harvested from a sustainably-managed forest, the Sainte-Terre tree logo engraved into the lid. All other pieces arrive in branded kraft or cardboard packaging, marked with the Sainte-Terre tree logo.
ALL PACKAGING SOURCED FROM RECYCLED MATERIALS
FOR THE SMALLER PIECES
A small kraft box, marked with the tree.
Pendants, charms, and smaller medallions arrive in a recycled kraft cardboard box, the Sainte-Terre tree logo engraved into the lid, the piece nested in soft natural wool. Quiet, considered, and made from materials that began another life first.