Caitlin Lightfoot
My work honors the artistry of erosion, revealing the sculptural forms shaped by nature. As a jeweler, I seek out stones whose unique contours inspire specific imagery, carefully selecting and categorizing them for design.
My stone archive serves as a library of natural shapes, offering both inspiration and a deep connection to the earth, imbuing each piece with meaning that transcends mere beauty.
A Portal to Connection
In a world where jewelry often glimmers like a distant star, my work seeks to weave a closer connection between the Earth and our tangled hearts.
By using crystal and stone in unexpected ways, I’m inviting you to pause and marvel at the raw beauty beneath our feet, transforming humble minerals into something sacred.
This isn’t just adornment; it’s a gentle nudge to rethink what we treasure, to see value in the unusual and the earth-friendly. Each piece whispers stories of existence, urging us to reconsider what truly matters in this dizzying dance of life.
Reclaimed Metals
I source sterling silver and gold from a New York refiner specializing in reclaimed metals.
Nature's Touch
The stones I collect, shaped by nature, connect the wearer to the earth and infuse each piece with profound meaning beyond its beauty.
Ethically Gathered
By thoughtfully hand-gathering my stones in small, mindful batches, I avoid the destructive impact of the mining industry on the earth, its people, and the landscapes it scars.
Stone Archives
Over years of traveling, and collecting stones in locations I’ve lived, I developed a way of cataloging the materials. I have amassed a library of stones in use for each collection. Often each piece of work will have a section of stones to replicate the piece.
I create boxes of layered cardboard pages to affix the specimens in groups by location, stone type, color, quality and size. This allows me to pair stones, by color, shape and size for earrings and such as well as repeating designs that have been made.
The Library continues to grow as I return to certain places to replenish and discover more interesting options to use in my work.
Doing this collecting has ignited my interest in the geological forces and time frames that have shaped the stone and land formations these specimens come from. I have done some of my own research into the geology of New York state and the surrounding areas. I have had the good fortune to befriend local Geologist, Becky Nessel, who beautifully describes this in detail in the geology section, for those curious.
Quartz among Greywacke and Shale. Hudson River Shoreline, Kingston NY
Five Foot Seven Studios
Five Foot Seven Studios is a collective, co-working space for artists Angela Basile (painter), Collin Packard (sign painter and muralist), and myself. Along with our private studio spaces, we share a communal gallery/showroom/community space. There we host gallery openings for featured artists, open studios and the occasional artist group or workshop. This is housed in the Historic Chocolate Factory, once used by the Baker Chocolate company, which how houses many artist and businesses in Red Hook, NY.
My studio consists of 2 small adjoining offices which provides me with a design space for cleaner work like wax carving and sketching and the other room has all the tools and jewelers bench including soldering, lapidary, forging and storage for the stone archives.