Look Book

14 www.thejewelrybook.com Every few years, head jewelry designer Todd Pownell of TAP by Todd Pownell of Cleveland, Ohio, embarks on a few weeks- long trek through a remote landscape to reenergize and appreciate the way he sees and emotionally processes the wild. It's not surprising that the wilderness, with its play of dark and light and fusion of order and chaos—as well as the 18th-century Romantic era's sense of a mysterious and sublime nature— infl uence Todd's organic, rustic jewelry designs. His highly textured pieces, many crafted in warm, 18-karat gold and oxidized silver, offer both a luster that refl ects the warm hue of approaching dusk and the low-angle light that creates long, dark shadows across landscapes. To achieve this wild, shadowy effect, Todd and his four- person team—which includes his wife and partner Debra, who carves wax models, assists in the design process, and is an important part of day-to-day operations—often combine rose gold, palladium or platinum with black ruthenium or add thick layers of gold over darkened silver. Todd plays with metals and textures, but the most unique feature of his designs is, indisputably, his work with white and natural colored diamonds, sapphires and other gem- stones. Using chunky, asymmetrical stones, Todd often turns them upside down, which "invokes a sense of mystery, with the light working with diamonds differently and creating a winking across the surface and broad fl ashes of light that mirror the feel- ing of twilight." This inversion of diamonds, often combined with right-side up stones, is "not meant to be edgy, subversive, or dan- gerous," he claims, though clients certainly describe the pieces as different and cool. Instead, he says, "it's more about the way the light cascades through the diamonds." The result? Romantic, nature-inspired works of art. Todd, who is a certifi ed gemologist from GIA and AGS and a member of Ethical Metalsmiths, Contemporary Jewelry Design Group, and The Diamond Development Initiative, attended a trade school for jewelry making and worked in the fi ne jewelry fi eld for some years. It wasn't until 2008 — after a trek across Iceland with his brother, who was similarly embarking on a new path in life and with whom he raised funds for Cleveland's Gathering Place during that trip—that Todd founded TAP. "I had some unconventional ideas as far as jewelry setting and composi- tion," he says, "which I wanted to explore T A P O N T H E C O V E R BY JESSICA TEISCH Todd Pownell TAP By Todd Pownell

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