Hunt Design



Hunt Design

About The Artist

Ellen Hunt • Austin, TX
Jewelry • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

Hunt Design jewelry is simple, elegant and timeless. Ellen Hunt, the designer and fabricator, is inspired by the landscape, people she meets and her history as an architect and metalsmith. Each piece is hand formed using recycled precious metals and often repurposed gemstones. Ellen is also available for custom designs.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I make all of my jewelry myself. I have a hot and cold bench at my home studio, as well as a casting studio that I rent. All pieces that are images of nature are cast from real branches, leaves, moss, etc. and are cast to make a bronze positive. I make a mold and wax positives to cast each item individually. The lost wax process is only part of my process. I also fabricate my pieces, and most have both process in order to create a final piece.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

I love being able to translate the world around me into art jewelry that I can share. The change of the seasons on the landscape and gardens, the views of the greater forest and the close-up textures of leaves and lichen are fascinating to me. I work with silver, gold and bronze, as well as a bronze/silver alloy. Each metal gives the work a different character as it ages and glows. The Bronze/Silver alloy ages to be the color of the bark of trees. The buttery grey of silver and lemony yellow of 10k gold melds with the skin. Both the wearer and the jewelry are beautiful together.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

I'm a 4th generation metalsmith. My great grandfather was a blacksmith in Jetol, Poland, my grandfather was a goldsmith in Odessa, Ukraine, and my mom was a goldsmith in El Paso, Texas. I went back to school to become a jeweler and smith when I was in my 50's, in the middle of my architectural career. I finished an Associates Degree in Jewelry Technology, and I loved learning how to fabricate and cast my ideas. Many of my pieces were created from visiting building sites and seeing ponds and pools, grasses and trees. For me the people I meet and the places I visit are closely tied to my jewelry design process.