Cecelia Bauer, Jeweler

An Ancient Technique Lives On – Master Goldsmith Cecilia Bauer
By Jan Lee, As seen in Conneticut Cottages and Gardens October 2009 Issue

A coal fire is coaxed to white hot by an apprentice pumping a bellows. At the other end of the crucible the master goldsmith, with a blow pipe in his mouth, directs a stream of oxygen from his lungs into the flame and, with surgical precision, focuses the heat onto his work. In a flash a row of spherical grains of pure gold, one tenth the size of a pin head, are fused to a gold band. In total his masterpiece will comprise of some 20,000 grains all fused in exactly the same way. Only with experience can the master goldsmith judge the precise moment at which the grains will be permanently bonded, a subtle color change tells him when its about to happen. He moves his flame, the bond is made, success. Just as quickly his entire masterpiece can be melted into a mass, grains and all, if he so much as blinks. The place is East Anatolia , the year is 900 B.C.
Amazingly not that much has changed in the making of this extraordinary art form in the twenty first century. As master goldsmith Cecilia Bauer explains “ we do pretty much the same thing as they did then with copper plates, hide glue and the placement of the granules one at a time onto the substrate with fine sable brushes. For example the Etruscan pieces, no one has done better before or since. The pieces they were making were for the Gods. It was jewelry for a higher purpose.”

She adds “ it’s extremely meditative, four or five hours can go by when I am doing granulation work and I don’t even realize it.” Cecilia in fact loves this painstaking technique known as “granulation

Cecilia Bauer began her career as a master goldsmith in New York City in the mid seventies. A graduate of Pratt Institute, she was trained as a stone sculptor. Her love of “all things classical” has remained within her design sensibility to this day.
“It all started when a girlfriend of mine showed me a piece she had made in a class, it was enamel cloisonné, and I said to myself ‘I want to do that!’” Once she began to learn about the process of ancient goldsmithing techniques she became “obsessed immediately”, to the point where she devoted herself fulltime and apprenticed with Robert M. Kulicke and Jean Reist Stark of the Kulicke-Stark Academy. Cecilia taught for a few years at Kulicke-Stark and began taking on commission work, culminating in the opening of C.Bauer Studio in 1991 where she teaches fine jewelry making from beginner to advanced. Gold granulation is a specialty of Cecilia’s.
Cecilia credits her mentor and teacher Robert M. Kulicke, a renaissance man of the mid twentieth century, for single-handedly changing American attitudes towards jewelry as art. Mr. Kulicke who passed away only recently, was a self taught goldsmith, inventor of the metal art frame used by the Museum of Modern Art, and art historian. “Forty Years ago people didn’t consider jewelry in the same way we do today, they didn’t regard it as art. Bob (Kulicke) changed that by referencing classical designs in his pieces and celebrated jewelry as an art form.” I feel that Cecilia has continued to bring awareness to classical jewelry styles and techniques in this country with her school and her modern take on classical styles. Her portfolio is replete with pre-Columbian, Mughal period India, Victorian and Roman era references.
In Connecticut Isabel Dunay, of Dunay Joaillier by appointment
203.552.5229 includes in her custom made selections this beautiful pair of diamond stud earrings with granulation. Striking in their simplicity, their classical lines allow the beauty of the diamonds to shine through. “We currently have two more orders for these ” Isabel points out, speaking on the renewed popularity of gold granulation as of late. Isabel is an appointment only showroom located in Greenwich.
Gloria Karp of Glorious, an appointment only showroom located in the Westchester area Phone: 646-778-1266 E-Mail: gloriousity@optonline.net, shares with us a circa 1870 European made Etruscan revival bracelet in gold granulation with authentic Roman classical era coins “it has a matching brooch with a similar coin” said Gloria, pointing out that she personally loves granulation and she currently has a few pieces in her collection.
There will always be a client who appreciates the craftsmanship, the history, and the design of a classical jewelry piece. For the time being we can rest assured that at least one master goldsmith is passing along the traditions and techniques that have endured through thousands of years and across numerous cultures.

Cecilia Bauer can be reached for commissions or classes at
C.Bauer studio
135 West 29th Street
NYC NY 10001 , 212-643-8913.