​

I orginally learned silversmithing from a master jeweler named Neil who I lived with on a farm in Hawaii. During my time in such an intensely energetic place, I lived by the tenets of yogic wisdom, pursuing deep states of meditation and integrating ceremony into even the most mundane tasks of my everyday life. My experience there was so transformational and I continued to carry the things I learned into my craft after returning to the mainland.

 

In 2020 when I started independently making jewelry, I decided to name my company after the Sanskrit word for unconditional love, “Prem.” At the time, it felt true to the origin of my skills and to the energy I wanted to put into my work. While I still carry much of that wisdom with me, I have come to feel that it is not reflective of my whole being and in a way, that the word was never mine to use at all. As I set out on the path to grow my business and continue to hone my craft, I felt myself expanding into something new.

 

A dear friend of mine introduced me to the concept of the higher third. This is an exercise in trial and error, of changing direction, of finding the moderation that works for you as an individual somewhere in between two opposite ends of a spectrum. After returning to my home state of New Hampshire and eventually moving to Pittsburgh, I found myself abandoning the things that in Hawaii had given me so much meaning. When I reflect on both of these times in my life, I can see now that they were each extremes in their own right. Each way of being lacked the balance necessary to a happy and sustainable life and felt like a reach beyond myself. I feel now that I have found the higher third in my spiritual practice as well as my jewelry making.

 

Today, my business goes by the name Zag Metals, a play on my own initials and signifying the many changes in direction that have brought me to where I am now. Zag is also the nickname given to my dad by his best friend. I remember hearing it as a kid and realizing that my dad was an entire person that existed outside of me. I remember feeling the love and admiration I had for him swell at this glimpse into the whole of him. That the Zag his friend had come to know still lived though he was now a husband and a father was my first sense of the ever-evolving nature of self. These dynamic changes that make up a life are at the core of what I seek to embody in my art.

​

I hope it brings you joy.