Steve Douglas grew up in a home where crafts were always present and tended to gravitate toward arts and crafts in school as well. Whether plastic models, wood carving, welding or drawing, he was always making something with his hands. While in his early teens, family friends introduced the Douglas family to rock hounding and lapidary (the craft of working, forming and finishing stone, minerals, and gemstones into functional and/or decorative, even wearable, items) hobbies, which dovetailed nicely with their annual camping vacations.

With stones in hand, Steve attended his first metals class in 1972 at Sir Francis Drake High School in San Anselmo, California. Steve then continued his jewelry and arts education at Marin Community College in Kentfield, California, while working part-time in small jewelry manufacturing concerns around the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 1979 he applied for a position as a goldsmith’s apprentice at fine jewelry store in Sonoma, California, where he studied under master goldsmith John Stephan Garfolo and, like Elyse, took advantage of advanced training at the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco. Two years later, John left to open his own store, leaving Steve as the lead goldsmith in the Sonoma shop when Elyse was hired there in 1981. They were married a little over a year later and remained in Sonoma until moving to Bend, Oregon with their two boys in 1988.  Previously, one of the Douglas’ rock hounding destinations in the 70s, Bend now provides inspiration to Steve, from the landscape to the materials surrounding him on the high plateau of the Cascade Mountain Range.

Having been born in Heidelberg, Germany when his father was in the Army, Steve developed a fascination with the German tradition of quality craftsmanship.  While living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he sought to relate to mostly German-trained designers and goldsmiths. Steve tends to be more the technician for the store, whereas Elyse is the lead designer. When Steve does design his own jewelry, he uses more conservative line and form looking to push the technical envelope enjoying the challenge of combining “semi precious” materials with stones and metals traditionally associated with “fine jewelry.”

The result is the creation of unique, contemporary pieces that are geometric, often with sophisticated surface treatments, leaning toward a refined art deco style.