This Down-to-Earth Jewelry Designer Makes Statement Pieces That Aren’t Too Gaudy: When Midwestern Charm Shines

When I first met jewelry designer Adam Foster last year, I was thoroughly impressed: Not only was the Midwesterner very down-to-earth — almost a rarity these days — but he was also an obvious talent and his pieces were unlike anything I’d seen before.

Based in St. Louis (his hometown), Foster, a School of the Art Institute of Chicago grad, creates custom rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets that make incredible statements without being gaudy.

Rare stones including demantoid garnet, blue moonstone, lavender spinel, and morganite are sourced across the globe from countries such as Italy, India and Pakistan, and Foster has close relationships with each one of the dealers who assist him.

“I only want to do business with people we really know well, the people who are doing the mining or cutting or dealing the material,” he says.

During his recent visit to Neiman Marcus NorthPark, where his collections are available exclusively in Dallas, I met up with Foster to take a peek at some of his work (new lava jewelry from his Constellation collection, locket pieces, et. al) and get the scoop on what his Dallas clientele is requesting he make.

How long does it take to make a bespoke piece?
A good two or three weeks. There’s a lot of moving parts. We’re a team of four, plus me. And we make everything in our studio.

What trends are you seeing with your Dallas customer?
They want, obviously, big jewelry. But, what we’re trying to do is give “big” in a way that’s still elegant. Things that are striking and bold statement pieces. A bracelet could only be a half-inch wide, but it’s going to be a bracelet that you will notice.

And then [the customer also wants] color, like colored gemstones, which is what we focus on. Big diamonds are great, but there’s more out there. There are some great colored stones — rubies, sapphires, big green garnets, spinels, morganite. I see that as a trend, the customer saying, “OK, I have this, now I’m looking for something more interesting.”

Where are the lava pieces sourced?
The Canary Islands. It’s the darkest we have found so far — the darkest black, natural material that we can get. The other thing is the porosity is the tightest, so you get these nice shapes that have little dots and interesting texture all over them, as opposed to something that’s falling apart.

What inspired the locket design?
Lockets are kind of tough because they’re sometimes just decorated things you’ve seen before. I think it’s more interesting when you find out it’s a locket, but you weren’t expecting it.

They’re considered reliquaries in Italy. People would have sacred objects that they’d put inside these elaborate boxes. I think of lockets more like that, and less like an American locket — like a pocket-watch that doesn’t have any watch. I think the point is, it’s a really beautiful object, and then it also functions.

Your jewelry almost has a museum quality.
There’s a collectability to it. There’s backstory. Everything is recorded for every piece: We made that on this date, this is where it came from, these are the people who worked on it, this is the design. Those stories get passed down.

Does your wife have much input in your designs?
Oh, one hundred percent. She’ll say, “This bracelet is too difficult. I can’t get this opened by myself” or, “These earrings are way too heavy.” I’ll say, ok that’s a good point. I really love the feedback because I’m not wearing them. I also think about things like, does a piece sound good? I’ve been at galas where I’ve heard something and thought, what is that noise? There are a lot of things that aren’t the sexy side of jewelry.

Do you typically get jewelry requests for certain occasions, or to add to an existing collection?
Sometimes we get occasion stuff, but a lot of times it’s for a collection. We’ll show a customer a design that we’ve created specifically for her, then she’ll say, “I want it in red, pink, and gold.”

Adam Foster Fine Jewelry, available at Neiman Marcus NorthPark Center, 214.363.8311.