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Michael Opipari

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Black Dog Handcrafted Jewelry Gallery

"I use mostly metal clay because it is an expressive material and allows me to create organic, one-of-a-kind pieces."

Before embarking on creating jewelry, I spent 20 years traveling the world as a freelance photographer for several national and international magazines, after which I began a career in architecture and retail design. After leaving the design industry I still needed to be creative, and began making jewelry. Simple at first, but as my experience grew, my work became more expressive and...

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... experimental.
Most of my work features stones and minerals from Michigan and the Great Lakes.
My inspiration comes from these stones; some stones are found only in this area of the world and are, in the case of Michigan Greenstone, over a billion years old.
These stones represent a place, a time, and have their own memories. My goal is to enhance the beauty of each stone and present its story and invite the wearer to add to the memories.

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