Zoe de Negri
Jewelry Designer
Capitan, NM
By Steppin’ Out Staff
One surprise during our Art Loop Tour was our visit to the home studio of jewelry-designer, Zoe De Negri. Although the Art Loop brochure had said that Zoe designed jewelry, nothing had quite prepared us for the quantity, variety and quality of the jewelry we discovered when we visited her studio. The studio was practically awash in Zoe’s hand made jewelry designs, which came in every size, shape, form, color and description. It became apparent very quickly that Zoe is an enormously productive and endlessly creative jewelry designer whose imagination knows no bounds. There were easily over 500 pieces of jewelry on display in her studio that day and to our amazement, we saw no duplicates anywhere.
We wandered around picking up piece after piece of Zoe De Negri jewelry for at least thirty minutes and each one seemed prettier than the last. The list of designs displayed included a couple dozen different ring designs including wedding rings, engagement toe rings, baby’s rings, mother’s rings, and far too many more to even list here. We must have seen 50 or more completely different necklaces, dozens of broaches, pins and accent pieces, 150 to 200 different earring designs, and the seemingly endless variety of beads and stones (both semi-precious and precious) was more than enough to take a jewelry lover’s breath away.
There are some common themes in Zoe’s work. Although the most common metal we saw used in her pieces was silver – or silver-like metals, we also saw over 100 pieces that combined 2, 3 or even 4 metals joined to create a single stunning piece. Zoe also features many pieces that use a very pretty silver-plated wire mesh that was quite lovely in every piece we examined. When asked about this pretty and unique mesh, Zoe explained she likes using it because it is lightweight, durable and much less expensive than pure silver would be.
During our conversation with the artist we learned that Zoe designs each piece with the cost of the finished product in mind. “I want my jewelry to be affordable and beautiful,” she explained. “My goal is to be able to create attractive pieces that cover a wide enough price range so that almost anyone can afford them."
That certainly seemed true based on the pieces we saw that day. We saw plenty of pieces with prices under $25. Even the most elaborate designs all seemed to be less than $100. In short, Zoe’s studio offers a vast cornucopia of unique and beautiful jewelry designs at prices that should be within reach of any jewelry shopper’s pocketbook.
So, whether you’re a lover and collector of fine hand-made jewelry or a starving artist / student looking for a unique birthday gift for your mother, your wife or your girlfriend, Zoe de Negri is almost guaranteed to have something you can afford and the recipient will absolutely love.
We definitely enjoyed our visit to Zoe’s studio and can highly recommend the visit to others. Our only advice is, go prepared to spend some time. There is much to see and this is certainly not going to be an easy choice to make! I practically had to drag my wife/owner away kicking and screaming from Zoe's place.
You can see several beautiful examples of Zoe’s jewelry in her Art Loop sub-gallery here (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=Negri&what=title&condition=and) on Steppin' Out and at her website, www.zoedenegri.com (http://www.zoedenegri.com/). To make an appointment for a studio visit , Zoe can be reached by phone, at 505-336-7854 or by email at zoedenegri@zianet.com. Bring a large car, truck or SUV. You may need lots of extra room on the trip home again.
Jewelry Designer
Capitan, NM
By Steppin’ Out Staff
One surprise during our Art Loop Tour was our visit to the home studio of jewelry-designer, Zoe De Negri. Although the Art Loop brochure had said that Zoe designed jewelry, nothing had quite prepared us for the quantity, variety and quality of the jewelry we discovered when we visited her studio. The studio was practically awash in Zoe’s hand made jewelry designs, which came in every size, shape, form, color and description. It became apparent very quickly that Zoe is an enormously productive and endlessly creative jewelry designer whose imagination knows no bounds. There were easily over 500 pieces of jewelry on display in her studio that day and to our amazement, we saw no duplicates anywhere.
We wandered around picking up piece after piece of Zoe De Negri jewelry for at least thirty minutes and each one seemed prettier than the last. The list of designs displayed included a couple dozen different ring designs including wedding rings, engagement toe rings, baby’s rings, mother’s rings, and far too many more to even list here. We must have seen 50 or more completely different necklaces, dozens of broaches, pins and accent pieces, 150 to 200 different earring designs, and the seemingly endless variety of beads and stones (both semi-precious and precious) was more than enough to take a jewelry lover’s breath away.
There are some common themes in Zoe’s work. Although the most common metal we saw used in her pieces was silver – or silver-like metals, we also saw over 100 pieces that combined 2, 3 or even 4 metals joined to create a single stunning piece. Zoe also features many pieces that use a very pretty silver-plated wire mesh that was quite lovely in every piece we examined. When asked about this pretty and unique mesh, Zoe explained she likes using it because it is lightweight, durable and much less expensive than pure silver would be.
During our conversation with the artist we learned that Zoe designs each piece with the cost of the finished product in mind. “I want my jewelry to be affordable and beautiful,” she explained. “My goal is to be able to create attractive pieces that cover a wide enough price range so that almost anyone can afford them."
That certainly seemed true based on the pieces we saw that day. We saw plenty of pieces with prices under $25. Even the most elaborate designs all seemed to be less than $100. In short, Zoe’s studio offers a vast cornucopia of unique and beautiful jewelry designs at prices that should be within reach of any jewelry shopper’s pocketbook.
So, whether you’re a lover and collector of fine hand-made jewelry or a starving artist / student looking for a unique birthday gift for your mother, your wife or your girlfriend, Zoe de Negri is almost guaranteed to have something you can afford and the recipient will absolutely love.
We definitely enjoyed our visit to Zoe’s studio and can highly recommend the visit to others. Our only advice is, go prepared to spend some time. There is much to see and this is certainly not going to be an easy choice to make! I practically had to drag my wife/owner away kicking and screaming from Zoe's place.
You can see several beautiful examples of Zoe’s jewelry in her Art Loop sub-gallery here (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php?mcats=all&si=Negri&what=title&condition=and) on Steppin' Out and at her website, www.zoedenegri.com (http://www.zoedenegri.com/). To make an appointment for a studio visit , Zoe can be reached by phone, at 505-336-7854 or by email at zoedenegri@zianet.com. Bring a large car, truck or SUV. You may need lots of extra room on the trip home again.