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Sir Zoltan David Dancing Metals Studio The Jewelry Press Contact Us Home |
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[ Article appeared in Elegant Texan, Spring Summer 2005] |
 Sir Zoltan David - A Soul of Buried TreasureZoltan David is an astonishing artist of remarkable talent. His medium is precious metals and jewels; his canvas the human form. From a brief boyhood in his native Hungary, to an exile's life in Canada, then California and eventually Austin, Texas, life has brought this man through many changes and stages. But in all of them, he has carried precious jewels, exquisite pieces of diminutive art in the pockets of his soul. From time to time he pulls one out and gives it visible form, shaping the finest quality gold and platinum with gemstones and |
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diamonds, creating between his hands "what is bold,
beautiful, and brave." This man could live
anywhere; that he has chosen to make his home and place of business in
Austin is as flattering to Texas as the jewelry he provides its
fortunate inhabitants. "Zoltan David, Precious Metal Art" is an exotic
enterprise even by design standards, its owner a Hungarian knight who
named his workplace "Dancing Metals Studio." He employs a staff of
German-certified master goldsmiths and still makes every piece by hand,
employing the techniques and art of goldsmithing. Zoltan David wins
national and international prestigious awards at an alarming rate
(twelve at the least by press time); he received a U.S. patent for his
intricate inlay design technique; he garners attention and accolades
from every corner of his chosen profession. David himself is as fascinating as the strikingly original designs he produces; his life is at least as well-crafted as his pieces of art. Even as a young boy in Edmonton, Canada, he knew that he wanted to work with his hands, to create things. He loved working in clay, and toyed with the idea of making furniture or jewelry as well. When the furniture workshop proved too noisy and dusty, he settled on making jewelry. For Zoltan David, it was a decision to commit to becoming and producing only the best, one evidently approved by fate, which led him to the finest of goldsmiths as a teacher. The world famous Swiss named Toni Cavelti was in Canada at the time, and not intending to accept apprentices. Young David saw an ad that ran in a local paper by mistake; it led him to Cavelti, who hired him and became his most influential mentor. The "poised, gracious, and intelligent" man is remembered by his protégé as "a tremendous artist and the finest gentleman," qualities the older man instilled in the younger as well. It is not poise, grace and intelligence that define Zoltan David; those are merely the qualities he has inherited from a war hero father (knighted for bravery in World War ll and exiled for his role in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution against Soviet rule) and from years of experience in pursuing his passion. Passion itself, along with freedom and serendipity, are three themes that he would tell you have dominated his life and work. He loves to create beauty by imposing the discipline of design - his design, from the depth of an unconscious sense of pattern and form which he only recently identified. Several years ago he and his wife traveled to his native Budapest, where he found in the city's architectural designs and details the templates for his artistic sensibilities. The little boy had the sights and lines of a long-distant city imprinted in his soul and never realized it until he saw them as a man. Perhaps these pieces represent the expression, the templates, of something more than just gold and platinum and diamonds and gemstones. He is creating for them symbols of life's treasures: the passion for beauty and the pursuit of excellence, the focus on the finest, the feel of forever. We view great art because it changes us. It forms and informs and transforms us into more than we were before, and points us to who and what we can be. The jewelry of Zoltan David is art as talisman, reminder of all that is "bold, beautiful and brave," and of the human spirit. |
