I started my jewelry career in January 1984, working for a friend as a part-time apprentice while attending my first year of college. My High School studies included math, science, computer programming, and electronics. My school had a great electronics program, and I took six semesters of that class. I loved that class. In May of 84, I got an opportunity to work in a small wholesale casting shop. It wasn't much of an interview; I had no experience casting or mold making, but the owner was very short-handed, and I had a great reference from my friend. Early in 1987, after almost three years, I became operation manager, overseeing four technicians. I quit in January of 1987 to find a new challenge. Several colleagues convinced me to start my shop, and in May 1987, I opened Au Enterprises.

My original career choice as a teenager was to join the Royal Air Force, but back in the late 70’s there was no such thing as corrective vision, and if your eyesight wasn’t up to scratch then you were out of luck. I ended up doing research into industrial ceramics for Morgan Crucible and while there applied for a lab tech job at Johnson Matthey in Birmingham, UK. I got the job and the rest is history. I ended up concentrating on precious metals and found I was good at it. Eventually I moved to the United States to work at Hoover & Strong.

My first exposure to making jewelry was at a class at a community art center in rural New Hampshire as a young teen. I was fascinated by jewelry as a product and thought making it could be fun. Spoiler alert: it was. Pursuing it as a career, however, was not even remotely an option. I was a “smart” kid who was headed for college; a career in a creative field (perish the thought) or the trades were not paths that were open to me. Fast forward to my college years and the decision to switch gears to a BFA program in metalsmithing and jewelry. Then I trained as a technical bench jeweler. I’ve been hands-on in various roles ever since.

Jim Binnion founded James Binnion Metal Arts in 1991 to make his mokume gane jewelry, with a focus on wedding jewelry. Jim developed a modern studio technique for producing mokume gane, a Japanese metalworking technique traditionally used to decorate samurai swords. His research and development led to teaching other jewelers and metalsmiths. Jim has presented papers at the Santa Fe Symposium, Jewelry Technology Forum, and the Jewellery Materials Congress. He has been published in the proceedings for those conferences along with articles in the MJSA Journal, Platinum Manufacturing Process Volume XI. He wrote a chapter in the book “Mokume Gane: A Comprehensive Study” and wrote the book “Jewelry Metals: A Guide to Working with Common Alloys”.

John Berg is an artist who has worked in jewelry, ceramics, and sculpture for 50 years. He grew up in Harvard, Illinois and attended Northern Illinois University Arts Program where he was invited to be an apprentice for his jewelry professor, Lee Peck. In his early twenties he won multiple jewelry competitions in Hawaii and was published in Modern Jeweler Magazine. Since then, he has used his skills and talents working for custom jewelers and major luxury brands and manufacturers. He retired in May of 2022 as VP of Manufacturing Excellence for David Yurman. Pottery, sculpture, and painting now fill his time, though he still consults for the jewelry industry. He recently started a small studio, Hair of the Dog Ceramics, making ceramic and silver jewelry, pottery, and sculptures using a Raku technique with pet hair. 

Dr. Corti holds a Ph.D. in metallurgy from the University of Surrey (UK) and is the managing director of COReGOLD Technology Consultancy. He has more than 40 years of experience in the precious metals industry. He worked for the World Gold Council from 1994 to 2004 and served as a consultant there until 2009. Chris edited Gold Technology, Gold Bulletin and the series of World Gold Council handbooks/manuals. He is currently a consultant for the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London and edits the Goldsmiths’ Company Technical Bulletin. A recipient of the Santa Fe Symposium® Research, Technology, Ambassador and Lifetime Achievement Awards, Dr. Corti presented at the Santa Fe Symposium for 24 years.