BEHIND THE SCENES
Judith Kaufman has been a studio goldsmith for more than 30 years. Her work has been featured at juried exhibitions and museums throughout the country. She has been honored by awards from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the American Craft Council. Her jewelry is also in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and is sought after by many private collectors.
Her work is included in Contemporary American Jewelry and 500 Gemstone Jewels, and has appeared in numerous publications, including a cover of Metalsmith magazine.
Kaufman makes each unique piece by hand, combining different colors and karats of gold with gems of unusual cuts and hues—opals, aquamarines, moonstones, tourmalines, beryl, labradorite, prehnite, and diamonds. She sometimes incorporates natural and ancient artifacts.
"She is totally in command of her method and materials."
—Ettagale Blauer, Contemporary American Jewelry
Her goal: to harmonize color, texture, gold, and stones into jewelry. "I start by making individual elements, cutting them up, embellishing them, and then rearranging them all into different patterns and shapes. When I trust my intuition and experience, the materials speak to me and guide me to something unexpected," says Kaufman. "There's such joy in finding beautiful materials to work with, and then letting myself be as loose and free with them as possible, as if I'm painting with fire, gems and gold."
