“Jewelry for me is very talismanic, each piece holds memories and the stones offer protection. All of my pieces are amulets, lucky charms.”

ARTIST STATEMENT

I have always been inspired by 70’s artist studio pieces. Often these artists worked in bronze and made unique one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that were almost like little sculptures.

I was curious why they worked in bronze, and not silver or gold. At first I thought of course it's because they didn’t have the money to work with precious metals. But then after working with bronze, I realized how you can think big and be free and not limited. You have to be so precious about gold that it makes you think small. It's almost like seeing things in color or black and white. It’s just so different.

I like big statement jewelry; I like unique, one-of-kind pieces, and the beautiful patina of bronze really works for me. All my jewelry is handmade. It is all either hand forged or made using a lost wax casting technique.

Sometimes I make duplicates if I feel a piece is a classic that can be worn all the time, but most of my jewelry is one-of-a kind. I don’t like to wear the same jewelry as everyone else, and I understand that you don’t either. For this reason, each piece is handcrafted, with stones unique to that one piece of jewelry.

~LISA EISNER

“The Navajo believe that a piece of Turquoise is actually a piece of the sky that has fallen to Earth.”

WHERE OUR STONES COME FROM

I use only American turquoise, most of it from mines in Arizona, Nevada and Utah. Many of these mines like Sleeping Beauty, Bisbee, Number 8, Blue Gem, Peacock, and Kingman are long closed so I find the stones from old rock hounds who have been holding onto them for ages.

The black jade I use is from Wyoming where I grew up and is very dear to my heart. It’s the most beautiful deep black jade, and again, the mine is closed, but there are still stashes to be found.

I am drawn to sun stones from Oregon; Imperial Topaz from the last two mines in Brazil; Madeira Citrine that reminds me of all the 70’s jewelry I love so much; White Jade or Cachalong which is used to carve cameos; Malachite either from the Congo or from the Bisbee mine; Simbercite from Russia which was once an ammonite (a mollusk) that after 160 million years the earth has grown around and through and now it’s a mineral, with pyrite and agate running through the veins of the ammonite.

I love nuggets. Whether it is a turquoise nugget, found right out of the earth at Number 8 or Bisbee mines, or a 22k gold nugget from Australia or California, each one is a little natural sculpture.


Learn more about individual Stone Properties.