Michael Bon­danza Fine Jewelry

As a for­mer cab­i­net maker turned jew­elry arti­san, Michael Bon­danza has decided to go with the grain for his recently launched col­lec­tion. The pieces in the image above are worked in costly Cocobolo wood, a dense mate­r­ial that is in the rose­wood fam­ily. Bon­danza explained that plan­ning to cut the wood so that he could use it effec­tively and effi­ciently was not only labor-intensive but some­thing only he him­self could do. Not a sin­gle splin­ter could go to waste, so for exam­ple, the pen­dant that you are view­ing came from the cen­ter of the bracelet when he carved out the block of Cocobolo.

Adding tex­ture and bright­ness to Bondanza’s wooden can­vases are plat­inum, yel­low and pink 18K gold, and fully-cut gem­stones. “I wanted to make some­thing upscale, with a big state­ment. They are organic but done very finely. I wanted a soft look so there isn’t a high sheen on the gold. It’s pol­ished and then hand-rubbed.”

For the future, Bon­danza plans on expand­ing this theme to include elab­o­rately detailed and gem-intense hinged bracelets, links, chains, and a lower-priced col­lec­tion mounted in sil­ver and gold.