St. Louis jeweler Adam Foster is interested in authenticity, the provenance of things. He attributes this to Italian grandparents who took him on trips to their homeland (and beyond), opening his eyes to the beauty and substance of Old World craftsmanship.
Foster, 36, says he has always been good with his hands (“doing the odd project” around his childhood home near The Hill and enrolling at School of the Art Institute of Chicago for painting and drawing). “But there was a practical side to jewelry-making that appealed to me,” he says. “It is art, but also industry. I felt it was something I could do in the real world.” He switched majors and by the time he graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in metalsmithing, he knew where he was headed.
“There weren’t many making jewelry in St. Louis at that time, so I figured I’d work for myself,” Foster says. “My parents loaned me $200, and I used it to file the paperwork and register my business.” With bits and pieces of equipment he’d gathered in college, Foster set up shop in a small South City studio, making “silver things” for people who knew him. “There was the odd semi-precious stone and a couple of diamonds here and there,” he remembers. “But nothing terribly grand.”
That was then. Fifteen years later, Adam Foster Fine Jewelry—which now operates from an atelier in Brentwood—handles materials of the most exquisite kind, sometimes turning out jewels with values “north of six figures” for clients around the globe.
But Foster stresses that price is the least of it. “It’s not about cost, it’s about aesthetic,” he says. “It’s to do with what is unusual and what is interesting.” What, for instance, can he create with (inexpensive) rutilated quartz, which shimmers with gold needles? And can aluminum be anodized
red and set with Burmese rubies? These are the kinds of questions Foster poses himself each day, using 3-D printing and other high-tech processes to design and create one-of-a-kind pieces. “It’s almost a science experiment,” he says. The company now consists of Foster and two other artists, but Foster has a hand in everything. Sometimes, he can make a ring in 14 days; sometimes, it can take six months.
The jeweler says he often is inspired by lines in nature; the challenge, then, is how to bring a softness to something that is hard. “I want the gold to have movement and malleability, to look like it has simply wilted around the stone,” he explains. His favorite gem is a true Colombian emerald, he says, followed by a Sri Lankan sapphire.
Always, though, Foster refers back to tradition—often employing classic Florentine setting and finishing techniques with buttery yellow gold and other precious metals. “If the process and materials are authentic, the end product will be different,“ he explains. “It’s like raw silk—a mass-produced fabric can mimic it, but you’ll know it isn’t real because the light doesn’t catch.”
Adam Foster Fine Jewelry pairs Old World jewelry-making techniques with the latest technology. His pieces can be found at his studio/showroom in Brentwood and at Elleard Heffern Fine Jewelers. Pictured on the cover, clockwise from top: Constellation ring in 18kt. rose gold with white moonstone and diamonds; Constellation band in 18kt. white gold with diamonds; Thorn necklace in 18kt. yellow gold with 67.76-carat orange citrine, sapphires and diamonds. For more information, call 314.771.3390 or visit fosterjewelry.com.
Cover design by Julie Streiler | Cover photo by Pat Arnold
