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with his
hands. When he graduates, he says he will make a choice between making
furniture and jewelry. He tries the furniture workshop first, only
to find that itıs too noisy and dusty. So, Zoltan David set himself on
the course of making jewelry. The three themes that would dominate his
life and work for the next 30 years began to emerge: freedom,
serendipity, and passion.
Hungarian, living in Budapest, Mr. David's father was a World War II
hero, a freedom fighter, and a leader in the 1956 Hungarian revolution
against the Soviets' stranglehold on the country. As a result, the
family - little Zoltan was only six - had no choice but to emigrate.
They went to Canada, which is how David found himself in Edmonton, near
the muddy riverbank.
 The importance of freedom of body and spirit has never left Zoltan. To
this day, a fan of Ayn Rand, his strongest belief may be in the ability
- and right - of every person to reach his or her potential. He is the
embodiment of someone who has done this. Hence, when he decided to make
jewelry and goldsmithing his trade and his art, he also decided to be
apprentice to the best person he could find. At the time, in Canada, a
world-renowned Swiss goldsmith named Toni Cavelti stood head and
shoulders above the rest. But he wasn't taking any students or interns.
Then, one day, the young Mr. David opened up the Vancouver Sun right to
the page where there was an ad for a diamond-setter. Toni Cavelti had
placed the ad.
Mr. David called immediately and was told that the ad ran by mistake -
the paper was supposed to have pulled it because the firm was no longer
looking. Undaunted, Mr. David sent in some pictures of his work and
expressed his desire to learn from the best. To make a long story short,
he was hired. Today Mr. David names Toni Cavelti as his most significant
mentor - as a goldsmith and as a man. "He was so poised, gracious, and
intelligent," he says, "a tremendous artist and the finest gentleman."
Later, Mr. David also studied under other European master goldsmiths at
Karl Stittgen Studio. After eight years of apprenticeship, Mr. David won
his first design award - the 1979 De Beers Diamonds Today competition.
He knew the time had come to be on his own. He opened the Zoltan David
Design Studio in Vancouver, in 1980. After a short while, he relocated
to Laguna Beach, California, and then to Austin, Texas, in 1995.
 At first, he freelanced for other goldsmiths and stores, and then began,
slowly, to sell wholesale. In what he calls a "leap of faith," he went
totally wholesale in conjunction with the move to Austin. Nothing but
success has followed. When asked what has surprised him most about
designing jewelry, he is quick to respond, "How rewarding it is. I love
doing it. I love metal, creating, problem solving, the thrill of
achievement, and the joy of creation. I've been doing it for 30 years,
and I'm still excited to go into the studio."
That passion has never failed him. Over the years, his designs have won
just about every award there is. His quest for excellence has led him to
make jewelry that is not only elegant and sophisticated, but also
enduring. There are three categories in the making of jewelry, he says:
design, goldsmithing, and stone setting. In what he modestly calls a
"bold egotistical statement," he says he is a "master of all three," and
that such technical skill "has a huge influence on design and vice
versa." Thirty years down the road, he says, any of his creations will
still be a well-made piece.
 Mr. David believes that "everybody is born with a contribution to make;
that our essential nature is to create." Clearly he has found his niche.
His jewelry today is still hand-forged, without models, wax, or casting.
He and his staff of talented, German-certified, master goldsmiths do all
the tiny, intricate details that characterize his latest work. Several
years ago, he gave the studio a name - the Dancing Metals Studio -
because sometimes he feels like a choreographer, and the dancers are the
metals.
He works only with platinum and high-karat gold. He explains, "With
the amount of creative energy and execution that goes into each piece, I
don't want to use substandard materials." In fact, Susan Cimiotti of
Panache, in tourist destination Mendocino, California, says people come
back again and again for Mr. David's pieces, because "they want
something unique, and for the amount of work that's obviously gone into
it." His business has been renamed: it is now called, appropriately,
Zoltan David, Precious Metal Art.
His design motifs were at first highly contemporary, avant-garde even.
His one-of-a-kind pieces, many with extraordinary gemstones, earned his
reputation for inventiveness and beautiful handwork. Mitch Diamant, of
Polo Jewelers in Wellington, Florida, says Mr. David's pieces are
"connoisseur's jewelry - uncopyable - each one is put together entirely
by hand." Today his style has settled down a bit, though his look is
still contemporary, it's more restrained, although equally
labor-intensive. And there's a consistency from one piece to another
enabling layering or wardrobing. Now he is working with geometries of
inlay, painstakingly laid in, in varying metal combinations such as gold
inlaid in platinum, and platinum inlaid in gold. Some of the gold is
yellow, some 20-karat rose or pink. Gemstones and diamonds are always
the finest quality.
 He did not know the origin of the linear inlay motifs that began to
appear with some frequency in his designs. They seemed to come to him so
easily and naturally from some deep, inner source. And then he returned
to Budapest with his wife. As he walked around, he recalled the many
times he rode around the city on the back of a motorcycle with his
father when he was a child. Mr. David was trying to remember everything
he had left at the age of six. But he was blank - too much time had
passed. Then it struck him: the geometries in his jewelry were the
recurrent motifs of Austro-Hungarian architecture. The cathedral
ceilings, parliament rooftops, etc., had somehow been imprinted in his
brain to re-emerge 40 years later in another beautiful form.
A few lucky people are totally in sync with what they do professionally.
They invest their whole selves into their work. Of course, the extra
emotion and energy they give to their art shows in the end result - it's
something that cannot be faked. Zoltan David's jewelry tells us that
he's one who is so favored - he found his niche on a riverbank and
follows his passion to this day.
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