Robin Waynee
1St Place – “Fire and Ice”
Robin Waynee’s winning ring, “Fire and Ice,” immediately captures and honors its name. The brilliant white of the metal, the beautiful center stone, the pavé-set diamonds and sapphires, and the bold design all flow together perfectly. Robin has created a piece that is striking in its sheer elegance and artistic vision.
Artist Interview:
Q. How did you come up with the title?
This is only the second time I have ever named a piece. The title is obvious when you look at the piece. The piece is very white hot.
Q. What or who was your inspiration?
The stone was the inspiration for this piece, cut by Falk Burger. He is a good friend of my father-in-law. Falk is an insanely talented jeweler in Tucson, Arizona. I haven’t entered the SBDA in a while. This piece inspired me to enter this year.
Q. How long did it take to make the piece?
Ryan Roberts, my husband, is a jeweler and he advised me on engineering aspects and CAD. From getting the main stone to designing the piece, then creating the piece in CAD were part of making the piece. We share an in-house studio which made it possible to do it here. I think the piece probably took about 40-45 hours.
Q. What challenges did you overcome while you were making it?
The designing was easy and the stone fit in perfectly. The challenges mostly came from assembling the piece. I used regular white gold solder to attach the main center piece to the ring band, as opposed to palladium white gold solder. The lower melting temperature of the regular white gold solder was within the safe temperature range for the sapphires and diamonds. I then laser-welded palladium white gold over the solder joint to make sure the color would match.
The pavé setting was very difficult to do because we needed to figure out which stones we had to set before final assembly.
The piece is constructed in palladium 18k white gold. I eliminated some of the pavé on the outside to what it is now.
Q. What do you plan to do with the piece?
Sell it.
Q. Will this piece inspire other work?
I think it will. Every project is so different and unique. This piece will inspire other pieces using some of the same processes. It is always a learning situation.
Saul Bell Design Award
Q. What did you feel when you learned you’d won?
I was really excited. I hadn’t won a SBDA in many years but this piece was so spectacular. I love competitions. They bring out the best in me. It is so inspiring.
Q. Whom did you tell first about winning?
My husband, then the stone cutter and our shop assistant.
Educational and Professional Background
Q. Of all the arts and crafts, why did you choose jewelry?
I had a childhood where everyone in my family was artistic. So I was around incredibly creative people all the time. I knew I was going to do something creative. At first I thought it would be as a woodworker making furniture. Then I met Ryan and started thinking about jewelry. He did some processes and techniques and shared them with me and I started to apprentice for him. That was the beginning. It was very similar to woodworking but on a much smaller scale and working with smaller hand tools.
Q. What was the first piece of jewelry you ever made?
I think it might have been a pendant with a reticulated surface. Literally it was a big chunk of metal I cast with a hole drilled out to slide in a chain.
Q. What was your training/academic background in jewelry-making?
None. I have taken only one class and that was with Kate Wolf at Rio Grande.
Q. What is the best advice you received?
To paraphrase Helen Mirren, “I wish I would have learned a long time ago to tell people to get f#%+@ when they were being difficult.” So taking it as advice, I think it’s good to identify early when working relationships aren’t working. It’s so easy in this business to get run into the ground trying to please people.
Q. What other awards, honors have you received in your career?
I have been honored to win numerous awards. I entered SBDA four times and I won each time, including the Grand Prize in 2012. And two Niche Awards, two for the MJSA Vision Awards. There have also been numerous awards for both SWAIA Santa Fe Indian Market and Heard Museum Indian Market, as well as an AGTA Spectrum Gem Diva honorable mention, and a Cultured Pearl Association design award.
Q. What is your definition of “success”?
To me success is doing what I love and maintaining my quality of life. It is a balance that I seek.
Creative Influences and Environment
Q. What or who do you think has been the strongest influence or inspiration on your work?
Inspiration comes from having great tools. It can change your world. They open your mind and the possibilities of what you can create and achieve.
Q. What artist, dead or alive, do you most admire? Why?
Ryan’s cousin introduced us to Andy Goldsworthy. He is a Scottish gentleman who works as a natural land artist. He creates temporary art with sticks, leaves and whatever is around. It is truly mind-blowing. Using natural materials in natural settings, he makes art out of “Rivers and Tides” which happens to be the documentary about him.
Q. Do you follow long-term trends? If so, why or why not?
No. I am a trendsetter!
Q. Is the product or the process more important to you? Why?
The process is most important. The product is already envisioned, finished and on paper. And I just need to figure out how to make the real version of it.
Q. What is your favorite tool?
My husband. He brings my work together. He makes it work. We hash out the piece together. It is definitely creative minds coming together to complete a project. He thinks like an engineer. Ryan is someone who knows what I am looking for.
Q. What metals, gemstones, processes do you enjoy most?
My favorite gemstones are spinel and garnet. I love both of these. I use a lot of agates. I like to use materials which are durable. I don’t like 18k white gold unless it is palladium.
Q. Describe your studio.
Our studio in Santa Fe is where we do most of our manufacturing type projects, i.e., our casting equipment is there. The home studio is more of the creative space.
Interview by Marlene Richey