STYLE : Daring Artists Invest Their Talents in Gold and Silver

Peer at the colorful wonders inside the Zia Jewelry Co., and one knows what owner Ron Cohan means when he calls this “daring jewelry.”

Here one finds gold rings and pendants by Raoul Sosa inlaid with startling combinations of fiery opals, blue lapis, turquoise and purple sugalite.

“When people walk up to the case, their mouths drop open,” says Cohan, owner of Zia Jewelry Co. in San Juan Capistrano. “They’ve never seen gems in these combinations.”

While people on the East Coast might favor traditional diamond solitaire pendants and rings, says Cohan, many in California want jewelry that’s different.

“Now that color is so important for clothes, anything goes,” he says. “People have loosened up, and the next step is to carry that over to jewelry.”

Cohan looks to the Southwest for unconventional jewelry.

“I’d be bored to death if I had to sell the same thing over and over. For me, the fun is showing unusual, different pieces.”

He travels around the reservations of New Mexico to find artists who make unusual jewelry.

“I’ll work with them to keep them in touch with what people like out here and motivate them to use different stones,” he says.

“They need people to inspire and push them. I tell them, ‘Use purple. People are wearing purple.’ But I don’t want to imply I tell someone like Raoul Sosa what colors to use. He’d kill me.”

Two of his favorite jewelry artists, Sosa and Delbert Vandever, will visit his shop this month for separate shows.

Sosa and Vandever both live in New Mexico and design jewelry inspired by the local landscape--but similarities between the two end there.

Sosa works in gold, Vandever in silver. Sosa has a gift for combining colored gemstones, Vandever for adorning his silver with fine etchings.

Sosa grew up in Northern California, Vandever grew up on a reservation in New Mexico and has never seen the ocean.

Vandever, a 33-year-old Navajo, lives on a reservation in New Mexico where he makes silver jewelry just as his father and grandfather did before him.

At age 13, he quit school to work as a silversmith. He picked up the trade quickly, and by 16 he was considered a master.

“He was a genius at jewelry--it was already inside him,” Cohan says.

He hammers his jewelry on an old sawed-off tree stump with a small pit carved out of the top for making rounded edges or domes on silver conches. He uses nail heads etched with his designs to stamp out patterns on his jewelry.

Vandever’s feathers have become his trademark.

The artist etches the fine grooves of the feathers by hand. One bracelet features a single feather that wraps around the wrist, available at Zia for $159. Feathers also dangle from earrings and pendants.

He makes necklaces out of chains of feathers. One has a bold pendant adorned with a steer head and a lapis stone, available for $695.

“He loves having a little surprise,” Cohan says. “He’ll do a turquoise bracelet, and on the inside will be a beautiful feather.” On the flip side of one pendant fitted with a large purple stone, Vandever has added a bear claw and a small blue lapis. Such small details--some which are seen only by the wearer--distinguish his work.

Vandever stamps all of his pieces with a tiny cowboy hat and feather--a symbol of the eagle feather given to him by his grandfather.

“He wears it in his hat and he’s very proud of it. He uses it as his logo,” Cohan says.

Marilyn Stayner, a visitor from Washington, bought a Vandever necklace adorned with feathers and a large lapis to take back home.

“It’s different,” she says. “It’s not something you see all the time. I like the lines and the simplicity of the design. It’s real elegant-looking.”

When Vandever’s not making jewelry, he rides in the rodeo or works on the ranch, rounding up cattle and sheep.

“He loves to compete,” Cohan says.

He has won hundreds of jewelry awards, including a best of show at the Santa Fe Indian Market, an annual competition featuring top jewelry artists, and the New Mexico State Fair.

Vandever will bring his stump and tools and demonstrate his jewelry-making at Zia on Oct. 27 and 28.

Sosa’s strength as a designer rests in his fresh use of color. He’s not afraid to mix turquoise and sugalite with diamonds. The 39-year-old artist works in Santa Fe, N.M., and draws inspiration from the landscape and architecture.

“The light here is something else. Georgia O’Keefe said this is the only place in the world where true color exists,” Sosa says.

Sosa designed one ring with a teardrop-shaped sugalite stone set in gold and surrounded by pieces of opal and green turquoise, available at Zia for $3,750. He created a pendant in the shape of an arrowhead with an opal and a diamond in the center and a border of blue lapis and purple sugalite. It sells for $2,995.

Some bracelets and rings have zigzag shapes reminiscent of the pueblos.

“I love Indian ruins. A lot of the feeling and motifs come from ruins in Mexico,” Sosa says.

Sosa will show a large collection of his work at the shop Oct. 19, 20 and 21. His pieces sell for about $900 to $4,000.