Our Story
Our Past
The Steven Kretchmer story starts with a curious boy and his profound love of metal. Young Steven liked to walk around his neighborhood collecting pieces of metal to meld into playthings and miniature sculptures. These unique creations reflected his limitless imagination, and although the Kretchmer bloodline can be traced back several generations to jewelers of Romanian royalty, Steven’s interest in precious metals and fine jewelry was self-initiated.
While Steven didn’t know it at the time, this early captivation with the malleable nature and magnetic power of metal was the beginning of a journey into metallurgy and jewelry design that would earn him 14 patents and leave an enduring legacy in the world of jewelry design.
Steven’s path would take him from the Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Jewelry and Metalsmithing in 1976, to Milan, Italy, where he learned traditional goldsmithing techniques from master craftsmen and met his future wife, Alma, and stepdaughter, Claudia.
Upon returning to the States, Steven pursued his studies at the University of Michigan, where he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in the Department of Metalwork and Jewelry Design in 1982. He then moved to New Mexico, where he created exotic alloys such as 18k mokume gane. In 1985, Steven’s unique designs earned him first place in Contemporary Jewelry at the Santa Fe Festival of the Arts.
Steven’s leading-edge prowess with metals caught the attention of Harry Winston in New York, and he was recruited to head their research and development department, where he would develop unique alloys including blue and purple gold. While he embraced the assignment, Steven always walked to the beat of his own drummer. Affectionately referred to as a ‘Mad Scientist’ by peers, he harbored a deep respect for old-world craftsmanship alongside his innate need to explore, play, and break with convention. Thus, in 1991, Steven Kretchmer, Inc. was born.
In 1992, Jewelers of America and the Blenheim Group in New York City named Steven Designer of the Year, and he spent the next year perfecting techniques and production methods for platinum that would reignite the use of this precious metal by jewelry designers and manufacturers.
For the next fifteen years Steven and Alma, with their daughter Claudia, lived and worked with a team of pioneering artisans while renovating a century-old stone schoolhouse—full of character like its owners—located in New York’s Hudson River Valley. The Steven Kretchmer name earned a highly respected place in the world of jewelry.
In 1998, Steven’s new alloy, Plat/S+, was introduced on Platinum Day for the Manufacturers, Jewelers, and Silversmith’s Association and became available to the jewelry trade. That June, the Contemporary Design Group honored him with the Designer MVP award. In the same month, Steven made JCK Magazine’s list of the ten most collectible designers, chosen by a panel of top jewelry professionals including Sotheby’s and Christie’s of New York.
Our Present
Now under the leadership of Steven’s stepdaughter Claudia in our new home in Scottsdale, Arizona, Steven Kretchmer carries the torch of Steven’s insatiable passion for precious metals and fine jewelry design.
Today, Claudia continues to expand on the beautiful foundation her parents built with uniquely imaginative, award-winning designs. In fact, in 2007 Claudia’s first solo design, The Star Pendant, won
the Town & Country Couture Design Awards. This was to be the first of many awards for the company. She has also brought new metallurgy to the jewelry scene, including midnight blue platinum.
Like Steven himself, we embody that unusual and captivating mix of old and new. We playfully and proudly blend science with whimsy, metal with magic to conceive wearable works of art that are distinctive, timeless and deeply meaningful to their owners.
All of our pieces are designed and custom-made in-house, and we hold fervently to the belief that it is not our job to “sell” jewelry; a piece of jewelry and its wearer choose each other. Our responsibility to our clients is to educate and inspire them to discover and own their uniquely personal style.
Steven himself once said, “I design future classics that become heirlooms… I do not redo what has been done.” These are words we continue to live and work by.
Our Future
We hold firm to the belief that fine jewelry design is an art form that must be learned, practiced and mastered. It is our intention to uphold the traditions of the master craftsmen of the past while continuing to boldly conceive and create unconventional, personal works of wearable art. We invite you to explore along with us— and experience the timeless imagination that is Steven Kretchmer.
