Craft & Materials
A typical sequence at the SunTouch Jewelry bench in Vancouver, in order. We publish it because the difference between handmade and mass-produced is a real difference, and it should be possible to see where it happens.
Six steps, no shortcuts
- Drawing. Every piece begins on paper, usually from something observed — a shell, a petal, water leaving sand.
- Piercing. The outline is transferred to sheet silver and cut by hand with a jeweller's saw.
- Forming. Flat metal is raised over a stake and worked into curve. This is where the piece stops being a drawing.
- Soldering. Joins are fluxed and soldered, so each seam survives the one that follows it.
- Setting. Pearls are drilled and posted; stones are held in bezels. Nothing is glued that should be gripped.
- Finishing. Sanded through finer and finer grits, then brushed to the soft matte the collection is known for.
Materials, and where they belong
- Sterling silver 925 — 92.5% silver, 7.5% copper. The house metal.
- Solid gold 14k / 18k — one-of-a-kind pieces and anything meant to be worn every day for decades.
- Freshwater pearl — chosen by eye for lustre. Off-round is not a flaw — it is the pearl.
- Hand-poured resin — Serene Flow only, in the colour you choose. Every pour is unique.
Made carefully, in small numbers
Sustainability is one of the four values the studio was built on: a commitment to eco-friendly materials and practices, and to making a small number of pieces properly rather than a large number quickly. Care for each material is in the Materials & Care Guide.