Stephen Clement

Graceanchor

9,404 Sales 5 out of 5 stars

Ganges, BC

172

1 Following 172 Followers

Hi, I’m Stephen, a self-learning artisan, creator and curious explorer from St. Louis, MO.

Crafting and forging with my hands has always been a defining characteristic of my creative self-expression. I've been designing and creating jewelry full time since 1995. I was initially drawn to jewelry making for its portability during my early years where traveling and self exploration were the most exciting frontiers. Although my trade has become less portable, I still love to travel and adore learning from new cultures and often use my business ventures as an opportunity to discover the world.

My early travels led me north to British Columbia, Canada where I discovered Saltspring Island, a rural community-oriented place exploding with arts, nature and like-minded people. Saltspring's Saturday market was a foundational pilot to my business for many years and It's here I established roots and started a family and a community to call my home.
What I love most about my craft is the deep meditative space, rhythm and inspirational surges that are achieved within the creation process. I love getting fully immersed in a project to the extent that my worries, time and even pain fades away. I often feel the most alive during moments of creativity and part of something much larger.

Special stones have been a part of my life as long as I can recall. I remember being mesmerized by a tiger-eye stone from my mother’s jewelry box at the age of 4. I was fairly certain that stone had magical powers and I often held it to feel them. Later I hunted for fern and fish fossils with my grandfather during our summer road trips or after school digging and flipping stones in a field or nearby stream. In 1996 I discovered the vast world of gems and minerals at local lapidary/gem show. I instantly fell in love with a natural beauty I hadn’t realized existed.

To me, stones are alive with a story to tell. Finding the most interesting ones or rarer qualities to use in my work has become my passion. The excitement I feel when I can finally share them is a large part of the reward and its an honor to adorn admirers with my finished pieces.

I currently shop for gemstones direct from cutters in India and frequent large gem shows in Tucson, Arizona, Bangkok, and other areas of SE Asia. I'd love to get acquainted with South America in the future.
I hope you’ll have a pleasant experience at Grace Anchor and that my excitement and inspiration will be shared.