LORD OF THE RINGS PASSES THE TORCH
Family business: Jewelry makers embrace DIY spirit — betrothed can craft their own bespoke wedding rings
As the Bay Area continues to embrace the do-it-yourself movement, betrothed couples are fabricating their own, one-of-a-kind rings in the heart of North Beach at Macchiarini Creative Designs.
“We’ve noticed people have a real hunger to handcraft 3-D objects on their own,” says North Beach metal artist Dan Macchiarini. “Especially couples who want to express their feelings for each other.”
The gallery and working studio was founded in 1948 by his father, Peter Macchiarini, a Sonoma County-born son of Italian immigrants who pioneered modernist metalwork design and sculpture in the United States. He was also a beloved North Beach character, in the red-hot center of that neighborhood’s Bohemian heyday, palling around with Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera or forging a wedding ring for Beatera icon Neal Cassady. After his death in 2001, the S.F. Board of Supervisors named a portion of Kearny Street steps (from Telegraph Hill down to Broadway) in his honor.
Last fall, San Francisco Heritage bestowed “Legacy Business” status on Macchiarini
Creative Design, which was already the oldest ongoing metal-arts production studio for modernist design in the United States.
“I’m very fortunate ours is still a familyrun business from father-to-son, and to my daughter, Emma,” Dan says. “The depth of arts and culture in San Francisco is very intrinsic to our work here.”
And it’s 36-year-old Emma Macchiarini, a local metalsmith instructor and MFA graduate, who in 2015 dreamed up adding metalsmithing sessions (for adults and kids) and wedding-ring workshops, under the Metalworks SF banner, at the tool-filled production studio behind the Grant Avenue gallery.
“Rather than having our jewelry-making space be some secret that’s kept in the back, Dad’s been doing this forever,” Emma says. “Welcoming people to be part of the creative process of our jewelry design.”
(Full disclosure: Dan and Emma handcrafted wedding rings in 2013 for this reporter and her husband.)
Most workshop attendees are absolute beginners. They first participate in a design consultation to discuss metals, settings and designs.
“But if you don’t like our design ideas and want to do something different, that’s
totally fine. It’s your wedding ring,” says Emma. “One couple arrived, each with rings from their mothers to make new rings. So we work with ‘old gold,’ recycled metals and responsibly sourced metals.” The Macchiarinis typically use conflict-free Canadian diamonds.
Workshops start at $550 for a six-hour, two-day session. Silver rings run $200 to $250 per ring; gold rings are $1,100 to $2,000 per ring, not including the stones and settings, which Emma or her father add to finish the ring.
“One of the things I hear from folks who’ve made rings here is they’re surprised that, as a novice, they can actually create a piece of jewelry,” she says. “They’re also delighted with the experience of working with their partner. It’s really touching.”
To celebrate a workshop’s end, Emma often joins the couple in a toast or snaps a “smooch photo” of the pair, their ring fingers entwined.
Combined with its gallery, Macchiarini provides a kinetic connection between artist and consumer. That dynamic equips people who take their classes or rent benches with an avenue to immediately put their work before the public.
“The energy in this place is amazing: I hear artists talking about different creations and concepts,” Dan says. “The whole experience is a dynamic engine that drives itself forward. This place is like Warhol’s Factory, without the drugs.”